Alchemy Isn't a Semblance!
by A Sometimes Lazy Writer
Summary: After a deal with Truth gone wrong, Edward and Alphonse Elric find themselves stranded on the planet of Remnant. In order to get back home, they must complete a little project Truth has given them. Of course, things absolutely do not go the way the Elric brothers planned. Then again, since when do their plans ever work out anyway? INDEFINITE HIATUS
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **[-]**

Edward hated Truth.

After all, it did take away his little brother's entire body, take his arm and leg, Colonel Bastard's eyesight, sensei's organs, and God knows what else.

But now, he hated him way more than he should have. Alphonse would have scolded him about how hate would eventually destroy him and whatnot if they weren't currently hurtling through time and space with their bodies converted to specks of matter traveling at the speed of light.

 _Just mere moments earlier…_

 _"_ _Hello again, Mr. Al-che-mist," smiled a smoky white figure, "You're here for your brother's body, aren't you?"_

 _Edward smirked. Only a couple hours ago, he was busy fighting some Homunculi, saving the world from destruction, restoring all souls back to their bodies in Amestris, and fighting a mad being named Father who had essentially consumed God. Then after defeating Father, Edward had lost his little brother in exchange for his right arm back._

 _He was raring to go._

 _"_ _But how are you going to take an entire human out of the Gate?" Truth asked, "What will you sacrifice? Your entire body?"_

 _Edward scoffed lightly, his golden eyes burning with resolve. He pointed a thumb behind him. "There's something huge I can sacrifice right here."_

 _A gargantuan grey Gate stood behind Edward, easily distinguishable from the white void that surrounded the two._

 _Truth's mouth had dropped in amazement and his smile disappeared._

 _"_ _This is_ my _Gate of Truth," Edward continued, "Which means I can do whatever I want with it." He paused and smiled. "Am I wrong?"_

 _Truth was quiet for a short while than began to shudder. His slight chuckle slowly escalated into near insane laughter. This was the most fun he had in a long time. "So that was your plan."_

 _Edward grinned like a predator that had caught its prey._

 _"_ _But," Edward's smile faltered, "if you think that would be enough to get both of your bodies across the Gate, you're dead wrong, Mr. Al-che-mist."_

 _Edward stumbled backward, his automail leg giving a slight screech of protest. He was so sure that this was a suitable price! All of his knowledge and his ability in alchemy for just two humans across the Gate!_

 _Truth stood up forebodingly, his smile ever present on his face. "But, I guess I can make an exception for you guys, since you were the most fun I ever had in a while. In return, you do a little project for me."_

 _Edward glared slightly. He did not like the sound of that. "What kind of project, you bastard?" he bitterly spat._

 _If Truth looked angry, he didn't show it. His smile just grew bigger. "Tell me, Mr. Al-che-mist, do you believe in alternate worlds?"_

And now they were here, still flying across the void with great speed. If the diminutive alchemist could grit his teeth, he would have shattered them.

Basically, the idea was that a Truth in another world was experiencing some problems with the people there, and the world was in imminent danger, tipping the scales to the evil side's favor. Apparently, that world's Truth did not like that at all, and called to Edward's world's Truth for help.

And he had just waltzed right in, trying to get his brother back, completely unaware that Truth had a job waiting for him.

Edward "turned" to his younger brother's soul, which was tumbling around helplessly, with no clue of what was going on.

Truth had agreed to at least let Al go with him on his project, body and everything, until the job was done. Then all they had to do was to open the Gate again, and the other Truth would send them over to get back home, sacrifice free.

Suddenly, a bright flash of multicolored light encompassed the two Elric brothers, both temporarily stunned for a bit. The swirling vortex of light grew brighter and brighter, until Edward felt the telltale signs of being reconstructed. It was never a pleasant experience, and it was quite painful.

The Fullmetal Alchemist let out a scream of pain before he was knocked unconscious and darkness took him.

 **[-]**

All was quiet in the Emerald Forest. The local wildlife were relaxed, all of them quietly minding their own business. Above them, a shattered moon bathed the landscape in ethereal light.

A lone doe gently walked across the many rocks and roots that stood in her path. She was obviously on the hunt for a midnight snack, the smell of fresh grass tantalizing to her sensitive nose.

The doe huffed and emerged from the unkempt undergrowth into a small clearing, which was completely filled with vibrant green grass, fresh for the taking. The doe salivated, but her instincts kept her from emerging too quickly. After all, there were very dangerous things in this forest. Smelly, black, and red-eyed things.

She cautiously sniffed the air and scanned the forest. Finding nothing of interest, she happily trotted over and started grazing.

There was no way anything could mess up her midnight sna-

The smell of ozone and the sound of crackling electricity encompassed an area to her immediate right. Heavily startled, the doe jumped several feet into the air and ran as fast as she could. Of course those humans with those strange powers messed up her meal.

The electricity died down, and in its place were two prone figures in the grass. Both blonde, but one exceptionally skinny.

Edward was the first to wake. The smell of burning vegetation agitated his nose, and he let out a small sneeze before his eyes shot open.

His body vaulted off the ground and turned into a fighting stance. His shocked golden eyes scanned the woods. Huffing heavily, the alchemist slowly started to relax. Then, realizing his current situation, Edward stiffened once more. "Damn Truth," he growled, "I'm gonna kill him!"

"N…Nii-san?" a weak voice said.

With a gasp, Edward slowly turned to face the voice. Golden eyes that matched his own stared back with shock. "N…Nii-san?"

With a choking gasp, the Fullmetal Alchemist dove onto the ground once more, clutching his brother tightly, as if he were to disappear any second. "Al…it's ok. You got your body back!"

Slowly comprehending what he had just said, Al's eyes began to moisten. He cried for the first time in years.

Edward never let go. He wanted his precious little brother to feel again, so he rubbed his back soothingly, taking notice of the alarming lack of any muscle. Alphonse was literally skin and bone.

They both rode out the emotional thunderstorm for a good while. Alphonse's crying slowly turned into hiccups, obviously too drained of energy to continue crying further. He gently extricated himself out of his older brother's arms and frowned a little. "But, Nii-san," he started, his voice scratchy from years of not talking, "what did you sacrifice?"

Edward simply grinned, as if the sacrifice was a very minor thing, like his favorite comic book was taken or something. "My own Gate of Truth!"

Al's eyes widened. "But that means…!"

Edward nodded. "Yup, no more alchemy for me! Look!"

He clapped his hands together and slammed them on the ground. With a crackle of blue electricity, the dirt morphed into a small figurine.

A healthy pause filled with confusion settled over the area.

"…Um, you did say that you gave up your Gate, right?"

Edward looked down at his bruised and scraped hands in shock. "Yea, I'm sure I did. Why the hell do I still have my alchemy?!"

Alphonse laughed a little. "That's great news though," he exclaimed happily, if a little confused, "Maybe you tricked Truth?"

"No, that's not it. Maybe he's letting me have my alchemy so I can finish the project he gave me…"

"What project?" asked Alphonse.

Edward flinched. He forgot that Alphonse was mostly unconscious and didn't hear a single word about the deal him and Truth had struck up. Edward gulped. Al was not gonna like this at all.

Edward turned sheepishly, worriedly scratching his head. "Um… how do I say this…? I might have made a deal with that bastard to solve some problems in another dimension in exchange for our bodies back…"

"…"

"I know, it sounds crazy, I mean another world, right? I'm not sure it obeys the laws of science."

"…"

"Al, talk to me man, you're kinda freaking me ou-"

"You idiot!"

A bony fist lightly bopped the top of the State Alchemist's head. It was a good thing the younger brother wasn't in his armor at the moment, since he knew that it would probably be enough to knock out the older brother for a while.

Alphonse kept hitting him on the head. "Why would you agree to do something like that, idiot brother?!"

Edward stiffened. "Al, stop it."

"Of all the stupid things you could do! You should have just left me back there instead of stranding us in another world! Do you even know what problems Truth wants you to solve?"

Edward lightly grabbed the bony arms with one hand and covered Al's mouth with the other.

Alphonse struggled for a little bit, his voice muffled by the newly given hand Edward had just received a couple minutes prior. But the younger stopped struggling when he noticed the older was intensely scanning the tree line, as if something was there, watching them; stalking them.

Noticing this, Alphonse shut up and looked with him.

Edward sat completely still with bated breath, afraid to move a single inch. Because he knew for a fact something was out there. Something big, scary, and dripping with enough killing intent to challenge a homunculus, but far more primal.

Wind gently whistled through the clearing, ruffling the sibling's long hair. Alphonse couldn't suppress a shiver, seeing how he had no clothes at the moment. Ed made sure that he would find or even make clothes in the immediate future.

A couple seconds passed with absolute silence. Edward slowly started to relax. Well, at least nothing was there.

A low growl, akin to that of a bear, emanated from the undergrowth, startling the two humans. Glowing red markings and eyes appeared from the darkness of the forest, and they could both hear the crunching of twigs and dry leaves from whatever that thing was.

Edward clapped his hands and put them on his arm. Nothing happened. _Of course nothing happened, you idiot,_ thought the alchemist, _I don't have an automail arm anymore._

As if angered by the clap, the thing growled louder and emerged from the trees, the light of the shattered moon clearly illuminating its ugly glory for all to see.

Edward and Alphonse narrowed their eyes. This creature looked suspiciously like a chimera, except for the fact that it was clearly not. It looked like a bear of some sort, except about two times bigger, had glowing red markings on the white bony armor on its hide, and mindless eyes that just screamed "I wanna kill everything."

The black bear stood up on its hind legs and roared, the mere vibrations of its voice rattling leaves and branches in the trees.

Alphonse was terrified. If he was back in his old armored body, he could have taken this bear easily. But in the severely weakened state he was now, it looked like he was about to keel over if a strong enough breeze came by. _I'm sorry, but I'm leaving this to you, Nii-san._

Edward, as if hearing the telepathic message, smiled and clapped his hands together. Of course, the bear decided he did not like that at all and charged at the two brothers, completely unaware of what they were capable of.

Ed crouched down and slammed his palms on the ground. Blue electricity sparked to life, lighting up the dim surroundings.

Two pillars of stone shaped like giant hands erupted from the ground on either side of the beast and grabbed it midair, effectively stopping it from moving even a mere inch closer.

The bear roared in protest, trying to struggle with all its might. Edward wasn't worried though. Those pillars weren't gonna break any time soon. It would probably take another alchemist or a couple bombs to destroy this thing.

Edward clapped again and dragged a newly made spear from a nearby granite boulder. With a devilish and nearly sadistic grin on his face, the teen marched over to the struggling monster. Normally, doing this to any kind of animal would make the young alchemist feel bad about it. His brother would probably openly protest too.

Ed steeled himself. But they needed to know what they were up against. If these things were tough to kill, then it would be a pretty big problem later, seeing how it seemed they were both miles from the closest civilization.

But as soon as the alchemist raised his spear, the forest started to teem with activity.

Edward reeled backwards, standing next to his younger brother in a protective stance. From the darkness, about fifty or so black beasts emerged. Some looked the same as the bear in the stone hands, but some looked like giant bipedal wolves, some kind of pig, and a strange looking species with only two legs and had a head like a stubby dragon.

Edward and Alphonse cursed internally. There were too many things to fight in the state they were in. The only logical choice was to play defensive.

Edward clapped his hands once more. The other black animals took this as the queue to start running towards the duo.

A giant pillar of rock erupted from the ground underneath the grass underneath the humans, and they soared into the air, a good twenty feet above the squirming black horde.

Edward and Alphonse visibly relaxed. Now all they had to do was to patiently wait for the black monsters to lose interest and go away. And if worst comes to worst, they would fight their way out.

Edward sat down next to his brother and handed him his somewhat torn up jacket. Alphonse smiled in thanks and huddled into it, thankful for the warmth coming from the cloth. After so many years unable to feel anything, Alphonse felt happy he could actually feel things now, but didn't really enjoy the cold that much. The last time he had felt this cold was back when it snowed in Resembool; back when they were kids.

"So… what now?" Al asked, his eyes slightly crinkled with worry.

Edward, who had been watching the mob under them, picked up a few stray stones and chucked them at a wolf that kept making an annoying screech. "I guess we just need to wait for these things to pass and then find our way to the city."

Alphonse nodded. He looked up at the sky and his eyes widened. "Nii-san, you weren't joking about us being in a different world."

"What do you mean…?" Edward followed his brother's pointed finger and beheld the sight of a humongous shattered moon. "Huh, I guess Truth wasn't lying after all."

Alphonse smirked. "You're taking this better than normal."

Edward sighed. "Well, I guess I shouldn't get too shocked by much since we just saw someone eat God an hour ago."

Alphonse nodded. Then he stood stock still, hearing a dull, thrumming noise coming from behind them. Edward took notice of this and turned around.

There was a glowing white light that was moving too smoothly for a shooting star. And combine that with the fact it was heading towards them made the two realize that it was probably attracted to the hub below them.

Edward got into a defensive stance, standing in front of his younger brother. But after taking a closer look, the thing heading towards them was not an animal or something at all. He could clearly see that it was made out of some dark grey metal, and several propellers were attached to the outstretched wings.

Edward and Alphonse sighed in relief. The alchemist raised his hands and gestured to the approaching craft with yells and waving arms. "Hey, we're over here!"

As if hearing them, whoever was piloting the metal craft slowed down considerably and approached them slowly.

The horde below grew more and more agitated, especially since the propellers kicked up dust into their red eyes, blinding them as well as annoying them quite a lot.

The craft hovered right next to the stone pillar, and a metal door slid open to reveal several uniformed doctors, if anything from their clothes were an indication, a couple guys wearing some kind of greenish uniform, and a well-dressed grey-haired man, who was holding a cane in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.

"Get in quickly!" yelled the grey-haired man, his voice almost taken away by the steady roar of the engine.

Nodding in affirmation, Edward leaned down and gently pulled up his brother, making sure his jacket was worn tightly on his person. With a deep breath, the two jumped over the three foot gap between the pillar and the craft and nearly collapsed onto the floor.

The grey-haired man leaned over and yelled towards the pilot's seat. "Get us out of here, now!"

A person sitting in the front wearing a helmet of some sort nodded and pressed a few buttons, one of which closed the door behind them. The Elric brothers felt the metal beneath them shudder and turn, eventually facing what seemed to be west.

Alphonse felt the medics around him gesture towards an empty cot on the ground; their bags already open with IV drips and some other medical supplies. Nodding gratefully, the emancipated boy sat down and was immediately swarmed by the worried doctors, who had clearly never seen a body as malnourished as this.

Edward sat down heavily on a nearby seat, warily eyeing the doctors next to him, who were measuring his temperature. Alphonse noticed the protective glare and gave a smile that seemed to say, _You worry too much, Nii-san._

Edward sighed. At this point, he didn't really care how the people found them or who they were, all he wanted was to find some beds and go to sleep. Alphonse could finally sleep, after all.

The Fullmetal Alchemist heard a throat clearing in front of him. He tore his eyes away from his precious brother. The grey-haired man set his cane next to him and extended a hand to the teen. "Hello, I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster at Beacon Academy. You are?"

Edward reached over and shook his hand with a firm grip. The old dude didn't seem so bad. He was powerful and had some status in this world, he could tell. There was no ill will in his voice or malice in his eyes. While the young alchemist was far from trusting Ozpin, it was imperative he got on his good side. And that meant (Edward shuddered) showing manners.

"Edward Elric, and that's my brother, Alphonse Elric."

Ozpin nodded, apparently happy with his answer. "Mr. Elric, what were you possibly doing in the Emerald Forest at this time? And why did you have your obviously malnourished brother with you?"

Edward rubbed the back of his head, taking notice that dirt and grime were coming off of it and onto his hand. "It's kind of a long story…can we talk somewhere private, Professor?"

The grey-haired man sipped his coffee slowly. His eyes twinkled with amusement. He clearly knew about what they were doing in the forest and how they got there, but he didn't let it show. After all, he had to see what kind of cover story the boy would think of. "I know just the place, Mr. Elric."

 **[-]**

 **Sorry I ended right here, it's 12 o'clock, don't blame me.**

 **But hey, an FMA: Brotherhood and a RWBY crossover! I don't see many of those lying around.**

 **Also, welcome to my first story ever! I'm a fairly new member here, and I just decided to take a go at writing a fanfiction.**

 **As my name suggests, it may take a while for the next chapter to be uploaded, but I will try my best.**

 **Thanks for reading and be sure to leave a review on what I can improve on or see how you guys would rage at the fact twists in my story.**

 **Till next time!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **[-]**

Just a couple minutes before the two brother's unexpected arrival to Remnant, a certain grey-haired headmaster was in a very serious dilemma. His dear friend James had decided to contact him and declare that he was willing to bring his entire army to Vale in order to oversee the upcoming Vytal Festival.

Normally, Ozpin would have had no qualms about his friend coming over to the kingdom. But he had the gall to bring an entire army with him, all for the sake of 'protection.' Ozpin scoffed derisively. There was no persuading James otherwise, not when he had most of the Council backing him up. They always did have a soft spot for the good general.

Now when the day comes, the enemy that stole Amber's powers would know exactly what they were going up against. Ozpin surmised that they would not be very afraid of the army coming to his doorstep, since they nearly stole all of Amber's powers. An enemy that could take down one of the Maidens was not one to be treated lightly.

Ozpin sighed. Well, he could at least take comfort in knowing that Qrow was doing his best to garner information. Then again, with his unnatural tendency to get drunken ninety-five percent of the time, Qrow wasn't the most reliable source of information. But whatever information he gathered was mostly true and very important. So he would put his faith in the scythe wielder once more.

The headmaster leaned over his desk and activated the large touchscreen attached to it. He would check the border's defense systems once more before going to bed. After all, he did have to make up time for filling out the documents necessary for the legal ramifications for the Vytal Festival.

Ozpin almost lazily browsed through each of the weapons bordering the Emerald Forest. Some of them were destroyed due to the destructive power of the students during initiation, but for the most part, the weapons were online. He would get shipments from Atlas to rebuild the weapons this upcoming week, anyway.

Finding nothing of circumstance, other than a couple of Goliaths spotted many miles to the south, the tired headmaster yawned loudly and stood up out of his chair. After sitting in it for so long, Ozpin was surprised that his legs had not fallen asleep. The wonderful powers of the Aura were to thank for that.

Ozpin quietly whistled a gentle tune as he picked up his cane and scrolled over to the elevator that went down to his living quarters. He left the touch screen on the desk on. It would turn off sooner or later.

All of a sudden, the blue lights on the screen were replaced by red. A constant beeping noise erupted, halting the professor in his tracks. Ozpin sighed dejectedly. No early sleep for him.

A feminine voice emanated from the screen. _"Increased energy levels detected in the eastern section of Emerald Forest. Unknown energy signature."_

Now that caught the professor's attention quickly. Every sensor located in the Emerald Forest was able to determine a source of energy used, which allowed the teachers to locate their students more quickly. The sensors were so sensitive; they could capture energy readings such as Aura, a Semblance, or Dust.

But this was a brand new situation. If the sensors were unable to determine what the energy signature was, then either they were broken (highly improbable, seeing how they were upgraded just two days prior), detected a form of energy not yet discovered, or it was magic.

Ozpin nearly sprinted over. His cane was haphazardly thrown off to one side, all traces of his exhaustion gone. If the sensors detected magic in the area, then there was hope that it was one of the Maidens. And if Ozpin could find the Maiden, he had no doubt that she would try and improve Amber's condition.

His fingers flew across a holographic keyboard. This keyboard had always taken a little time to get used to. Ozpin was more of a buttons person himself.

He swiftly typed in the password to access the cameras in the forest. "A.S.T.R.A, I need you to contact the Bullhead pilots. Tell them it is urgent and the Bullheads must be ready to fly immediately!"

A small holographic face of a young woman, maybe around twenty years of age, nodded. This was A.S.T.R.A., Beacon Academy's resident A.I. She mainly resided in the CCT, but she did help assist professors regularly from anything to unlocking several classified archives for trustworthy people or assisting in the school's everyday activities.

 _"_ _Right away, professor."_ said the A.I.

Ozpin just nodded and finally opened up the camera feed for the exact area where the energy had originated from. If a Maiden was using her powers here, then she must be in some modicum of danger. And danger was not something the headmaster wanted to happen to a Maiden.

Ozpin watched the screen buffer with bated breath. He was clearly expecting the worst, and had to take every precaution against what could happen.

There was a sparking bundle of blue electricity emanating from a small clearing. Ozpin's eyebrows furrowed. Judging from the sparks, he would hazard a guess and say that was probably Spring, who was able to control rain, lightning, and bringing new growth to new plants.

The lighting died down and unceremoniously dumped two unconscious blonde boys onto the ground.

Ozpin nearly swallowed his tongue in shock. He blinked rapidly. These people were clearly not Maidens. First off, the skinniest boy obviously had a lack of…female parts, and the other blonde was clearly a male, even with his hair in a braid. Second off, that did not explain why the electricity was there in the first place. After all, it must have been magic. The sensors could not identify it, and it was clearly not a naturally occurring circumstance.

He would have spent more time racking his thoughts on this until his camera microphone caught the sound of strained breathing coming from the worriedly skinny boy on the ground.

Ozpin shook his head and berated himself for taking so slow to respond. Two boy's lives were at stake!

The headmaster called A.S.T.R.A. once more. "I also need you to contact the infirmary! We have what appear to be two civilians. One of them seems to be fine other than some bleeding, but the other is clearly severely malnourished. Have the medical team bring along whatever they can carry!"

 _"_ _Right away."_

As the A.I. went off to make some calls, Ozpin grabbed his cane off the floor and sprinted over to the elevator. He activated his Scroll and activated the camera feed on it. He would remotely activate some perimeter defense around the two boys, in hopes of warding Grimm away. No doubt they would be attracted by the sudden light that came from the electricity.

Ozpin prayed to almost every single god he knew. He prayed for the boys' safety. They were too young to be killed by the ravenous forces of the Grimm.

After all, what could Aura-less teenagers do against enemies like that?

Oh, how mistaken he was.

 **[-]**

Now, as the Bullhead gently landed on Beacon's tarmac, Ozpin had very much taken back what he had expected. Aside from one of the young boys being unable to fight, it seemed that if healthy, they could hold their own.

The medical team got off first, trying to whisk the emaciated boy off to the infirmary as quick as possible. Unfortunately, Edward was having none of it and pestered the team to let him follow his younger brother.

"That's okay, right professor?"

The boy had asked a question, but Ozpin knew that he was not going to take 'no' as an answer.

Ozpin gave a small smile and nodded. Ah, the bond between brothers was unbreakable. "Then I believe we will have this conversation some other time. Mayhap tomorrow afternoon? I will have a nurse bring you food in the morning."

Alphonse's face lit up with joy. Ozpin guessed that if he was in such a state, food may not have been an everyday thing for him. What sort of monster would let a child starve that much? It couldn't be Edward, since he obviously cared for his brother.

Edward simply nodded, and thanked the professor for his generosity.

Ozpin bade them a good night and watched the Elric brothers and the medical team hurry to the school infirmary. As he turned to apologize to the Bullhead pilots at waking them up so late, he couldn't stop a thought from entering his head. If that lightning the boy used to create objects out of everyday objects was not a semblance, then what was it?

 **[-]**

Edward kept sneaking glances every now and then to the grey-haired professor until he got out of their sight. It wasn't that he didn't like the professor; it was just an unshakeable feeling that he knew more than he was letting on.

"Nii-san," said Alphonse, catching his brother's attention, "I'm pretty sure he's a good person. There's no need to be so suspicious."

Edward smiled softly. Alphonse always expected the best out of people. He was forgiving to nearly no end and was always calm and collected. Unlike himself, who was basically the complete opposite of his little brother.

They soon reached a section of the gigantic school (Edward still was curious as to what they taught here and what kind of world they were in), and the medical team burst through the doors, nearly yelling to the nurses and nearby doctors to give them assistance.

The crew attempted to whisk away Alphonse to a separate room so they could run some tests, pump him full of vitamins, x-ray for any potential organ failure, and give him some food. Edward however, was more than displeased with this development and demanded that he stay with his brother every step of the way.

"No way I'm just gonna stay here and wait!" exclaimed the alchemist, gesturing wildly with his hands.

A nearby doctor sighed in attempt to placate the blonde. "I'm sorry young man; we can't have any outside influence that may interfere with the procedure. It's a very complicated process to take care of someone this malnourished."

Before Edward could retaliate, the doctor adjusted his glasses and squinted at the blonde. "Speaking of which, I will personally interview you later about how your younger brother got into such a state."

Edward's mouth went dry. Crap, how was he gonna explain this to everybody else?

"Doctor Maximillian! We need an extra hand here, if you don't mind!"

The doctor cleared his throat. "Well I'm off. I will see to your younger brother now. You will be able to see him in a couple hours. In the meantime, I will have Miss Violet here to tend to that puncture wound of yours on your arm."

Edward nearly leaped to the ceiling when he registered a young woman, with purple eyes and dark brown hair just a little older than he was, standing directly next to him. Violet Verbeck was actually a student at this school, but due to her weaker stature, she soon dropped the idea of becoming a Huntress, much to her disappointment. However, she had an uncanny ability to tend to others on the battlefield, saving all of her teammate's lives in a large Grimm attack by using her knowledge of herbs and medicine.

Soon after she had officially quit trying to become a Huntress and her team got a new member, Professor Ozpin actually came to see her and offered her a training course at the infirmary. She soon found herself to be adept at the job and was currently training to become a doctor.

Violet smiled brightly and gave a little wave. "Hello, little boy," she exclaimed, "If you would just follow me to-"

Doctor Maximillian had to physically restrain the alchemist from attacking the young woman. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO LITTLE THAT HE COULD BE CRUSHED BY A GRAIN OF SALT?!"

Violet blinked in mild surprise. "A height complex, huh? Well that shouldn't be a problem; we have many therapists around here that can help you get over it."

The poor doctor winced as an elbow nearly jabbed his eye. "Miss Verbeck, do you mind not aggravating him further? His wound is starting to bleed again."

Violet gave a small salute. "No problem sir!"

She grabbed the young alchemist by the arm and basically dragged him across the lobby. She smiled evilly. This was gonna be fun. She waited until the doctor walked out of sight before jauntily whistling. "Don't worry, I'm sure your brother is gonna be fine. Let's see if we can find some toys for you to play with while your brother is being treated."

Edward Elric's screams of anger were heard all across the infirmary.

Several rooms away, a nearby vent in the operating room echoed with Edward's yells. Alphonse, who was lying down on a strange white machine that looked sort of like a tube with a platform in the center, smiled. "I guess someone called him short again."

An older male doctor peeked over his computer monitor. "Did you say something, young man?"

"No, it's nothing; I'm just talking to myself."

"I see…Well, just relax and the machine will do all the work."

 **[-]**

Edward grumbled as Violet wrapped his wound with gauze. Violet whistled merrily as she did so, and took out a clipboard from a nearby drawer. "I'm just gonna have to ask you a few questions about you and your brother's medical history, since he's being operated on right now."

Edward flexed his bandaged arm experimentally. He gave a grunt of affirmation.

"Alrighty then, full names?"

"The name's Edward Elric and my brother's name is Alphonse Elric."

"Ages?"

"I'm 16 and my brother is 15."

"Sheesh you guys are so young, what on Remnant happened to you two?"

Edward gave a noncommittal shrug. "We got into a couple accidents."

Violet's eyebrows rose in suspicion, but accepted the answer for now. "Alright well, I'm just gonna look at the hospital databases around Vale so I can find out more about your medical history."

Edward started. Damn, he was stupid to give out personal information! Now they were gonna find out they were not from around here, arousing more suspicion. They didn't technically exist after all.

Edward calmed himself. _It's okay, there's no way they would be able to get information that quickly. It's not like they're gonna pull out some kinda device that can access information anywhere._

Violet reached into her pocket and pulled out her Scroll, activating it. "I'll just check on my device that can access information anywhere on this planet so I can dive into your personal records!"

Edward nearly fell off the hospital bed. Just how much more technologically advanced was this world compared to his?! Flying vehicles and the like he could accept, but this was just too much!

"Eh, Violet," said Edward, shaking with fear, "Can't you just wait until I'm feeling better and me and my brother can give you permission to get into our records?"

Violet raised her eyebrows. "I mean, we would only do that if you weren't a citizen of Vale. If so, then you should have credentials on you at all times. You are citizens of Vale, correct?"

Edward spluttered. "No, we're not. U-Unfortunately we lost our ID's when those black monsters attacked me and my brother! Yea!"

"You mean the Grimm?"

"Yeah those."

Violet sat down next to him and pulled out her clipboard once more. "Then which kingdom are you guys from? These are medical records that needs to be accessed ya know."

Edward gulped. "We're not from the kingdoms…We were…born outside the kingdoms in a place called Amestris!"

"Amestris? I've never heard of it. How far is it from Vale?"

Edward gulped once more. He racked his thoughts for an acceptable answer. "A couple hundred miles away from here to the far east…"

Violet brightened. "Well then we can find your medical records no problem! The kingdom of Vale is part of the large continent. That technically means you're a citizen of Vale! I don't know why you thought you had to bring your ID and your transcripts. Amestris must be pretty isolated for you to think like that, huh?"

As Violet reached for her machine-thing again, Edward mentally planned out a situation for getting out of this, preferably with his brother in tow.

The young woman typed in 'Elric' into the medical database. She scanned the page for a few seconds before turning to the nervous blonde. "Well, I got some good news for ya! I was able to access your records after all!"

Edward blinked before lunging for the Scroll. "What?!"

Sure enough, there it was. A full medical history of his little brother and himself. They got the heights correct, the age, medical problems, everything! How did they get records so quickly? Edward noticed a small print on the bottom right hand corner of the file (he still couldn't get over the electronic complexity of the machine in his hands), "Last edited by Headmaster Ozpin."

Edward squinted. So his suspicions were correct. Ozpin did know a lot more than he let on. And he even knew their heights and ages correct! Except for some made up medical problems, this was a perfect transcript. It was almost as if he had lived on this planet his whole life.

Violet plucked her Scroll from the suspicious blonde's hands. "After you're done so rudely manhandling my precious baby," she said, "I'm wondering if you want to get some food."

Edward looked up, suddenly extremely hungry. Violet, noticing the hungry gleam in his eyes, smirked. "Lucky for you, I have a night pass to the academy cafeteria. So we can have a nice midnight snack together if you like."

Edward stood up and stretched. "Hell yeah, I could totally go for something to eat right now. As long as my brother gets food also."

"No problem at all. The other doctors could get him some after the procedure. By the way, you should stop stretching so much."

Edward looked puzzled. "Huh? Why?"

Violet, who was wearing a lecherous grin and had a faint blush on her cheeks, pointed down. Edward followed where she was pointing and yelped. The clothes he had worn during his fight with Father really wore them down. What he was wearing was no more than a rag. His pants were no better.

So his toned muscles and nearly nude state made him virtually eye-candy for every female here.

"Ya know, for a short guy, you've got some killer body."

Angry ticks sported off of Edward's head. He lobbed a small pillow at her. "Get me some clothes before we get out! And stop calling me short!"

Violet was ushered out of the hospital room. "Okay, okay, jeez, did I strike a nerve there, little guy?"

"Shut up, you're only a couple years older than me!"

Violet laughed a pleasant tinkling sound. "Fine, fine, I'll see if I can find you some clothes. Then we're gonna go grab a bite. I haven't had food in a couple hours and I missed dinner cause of you, so you owe me."

Edward just slammed the door in her face. His muffled voice emanated from the wooden door. "Don't come back until you have clothes for me!"

Violet smiled devilishly. This was the most fun she has had in a long time.

 **[-]**

Ruby Rose yawned as she stumbled down the vast halls of Beacon Academy. TO her right, large windows let in the light of the shattered moon, illuminating the hall quite nicely.

Ruby rubbed her eyes. She was feeling extremely tired. The only reason she wasn't in bed right now was because of her older sister, Yang. The little reaper had no idea how Weiss and Blake slept through it, but Ruby never really got used to the thundering snores her half-sister let out. This was why she constantly pestered her dad to get them separate rooms back at Patch.

Her sister openly disagreed, since she stated that "she needs to stay safe and warm in my cuddles!"

However, that was years ago, and Ruby had long since then had the wisdom to buy some ear plugs from the closest shop.

But now, she had run out, and Weiss and Blake did not let her use any. Weiss's earplugs were fancy, with improved sound cancelling and were very comfortable to wear. She said that "I don't wish to wake up every morning with a whistle blowing in my ear."

And Blake wouldn't give her any since she had specialized ear plug models that were tailored for Faunus. She did have two sets of ears after all.

And so after a couple ours of trying to muffle her sister's snores, Ruby finally got out of bed and decided to go grab a quick bite at the cafeteria. Hopefully nobody was there; she didn't have a night pass.

Ruby reached the massive doors leading to the building and quietly opened them up. She yawned once more and shuffled over to the bakery. She would just take a glass of milk and a couple cookies. That always helped her calm down.

After loading her plate high with chocolate chip and the like, she went over to one of the many unoccupied tables and sat down. She grabbed a particularly large cookie with more than average chips and dipped it into her milk.

She sighed in bliss. Thank god someone had the great idea to invent chocolate chip cookies. Ruby personally wished to give a big hug to whoever had made them in the first place.

"Damn, you're gonna eat all of those?"

Ruby screamed in shock and nearly flung her sodden cookie and her glass of milk into the air. The sound of another shocked yelp reached her ears, and she found herself face to face with a young boy with golden hair and eyes.

Edward crinkled his nose in disgust. "Ah, damnit, I hate milk."

Sure enough, as Ruby looked down, his pants, which looked pretty new, were now doused in milk, seeping into the fabric and running down his leg.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, it's just that you scared me and I know I'm not supposed to be here and I don't have a night pass but please don't tell the professors, I'll get into trouble again, but it's mainly my sister's fault, she was snoring and-"

Violet poked out from behind the confused blonde. "Hi-ya, Ruby!"

Ruby looked up, realization dawning on her face. "Oh, hey Violet! What are you doing here?"

"Well, short-stop here needed food and I did too, so I brought my night pass and came over!"

Ruby's eyes turned soft ad watery. This was the dreaded "Puppy Dog Technique," something that would make anyone do anything Ruby asked. Well anyone except Miss Goodwitch. She had a heart of stone. "Can you please let me use the night pass with you guys? I don't wanna get in trouble by the professors…"

Violet immediately turned into putty. "Oh, of course sweety, you must be so scared. Did that mean Eddy surprise you? I'm so sorry, little munchkin!"

Edward just glared at Violet, who was nuzzling up to a victorious Rose, who looked like she had just been saved.

Edward just grumbled to himself. "Great, now the milk got into my leg. I seriously hope this doesn't mess up the automail. Damn, I won't be able to replace it without Winry…"

Ruby looked up. "Is your leg ok?"

Edward looked up. "Yeah, yeah, it's just really cold. Do you have any paper towels handy on the table?"

Ruby literally dove over the table to grab a handful of napkins. "Yea no problem, let me do it!"

"I can just do it myse-"

Too late. Before Edward could move his leg out of the way, Ruby had already made contact with his metal limb.

Ruby blinked. She felt it again. She swore it felt exactly like….

Out of her better judgement, she lifted his pants legs up. Edward spluttered in surprise, his cheeks blushing furiously while Violet just watched with an amused, if curious, look.

Ruby's eyes became the size of melons. "Oh my gosh, it's so cool!"

Edward almost let out a sigh. Ok good, metal limbs weren't that uncommon in his world, seeing how the girl was just drooling over it and not screaming in fear.

Ruby looked up with stars in her eyes. "What kind of metal is it made out of? Is it powered by Dust? Does it turn into like a gun or better yet, cannon? How does everything interlock? Does it…"

Violet pulled her off. "Alright, Ruby, let's give the poor guy his space."

Ruby rubbed her head sheepishly. "Sorry, I just really love anything that has to do with gears! And I'm so sorry I spilled milk on it!"

The gears in Edward's head started turning. Maybe…just maybe…

He turned to face the two. "Do you think you can help me fix it? It's waterproof but doesn't bode well against liquids thicker than it."

Ruby smirked. "Fix it? You're looking at Ruby Rose, weapons extraordinaire! I can make it better than before."

Edward also smirked. He stuck out his hand. "Edward Elric, at your service."

They shook hands, each giggling madly at the possibility of creating a weapon of mass destruction. Ruby internally hurrahed at this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Edward internally hurrahed at a chance to keep something cool when him and his brother got back home. Even if Truth would still take his alchemy, he would have a sweet new and improved leg composed of this planet's technology.

Violet sighed but still kept the smile on her face. "Oh boy, I don't like where this is going…At least get some food first before going crazy on that leg. I'm still hungry."

 **[-]**

 **And I'm done! Sorry for the lack of action once more in this fic. I promise I will write a better chapter in the near future.**

 **But yeah, how will Ruby improve Edward's leg? Who knows? I know Edward doesn't want something super flashy, so I'm just gonna make it so that it has super strength or stronger reinforcement instead of a gun or something crazy like that.**

 **Anyway, thank you for stopping by! Sorry it took a while; as my namesake suggests, I am a pretty lazy guy.**

 **But thanks for reading! Drop a review if you would like and I will get back to you guys as soon as possible.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **[-]**

A certain blonde professor grumbled as she made her way to the bronze elevator in the lobby. Nobody else was around, seeing how it was around two in the morning. Glynda Goodwitch barely suppressed a shiver and pulled her sweater closer to herself. Normally, she wouldn't be wearing something so…casual, but she had no choice: Ozpin had told her to come immediately.

Well at least there was nobody in the lobby to witness the normally strict professor wearing a knitted light blue sweater with star patterns on it.

Glynda tapped her foot as she impatiently waited for the elevator to come to the ground floor. Headmaster or not, Ozpin was in a load of trouble as soon as she got up. She literally only got around three hours of sleep before receiving a message from the headmaster that simply said _"We need to discuss an important matter. Come ASAP."_

The elevator doors dinged and the blonde teacher walked in, scanning her Scroll as she went, and pushed the button that led to the top floor. What in the world could possibly be so important? Amber was safe, she knew that for sure. There wasn't any White Fang attack since Ozpin would tell her about it immediately instead of an ambiguous message. He probably called him up for some sort of trivial matter that he needed help on.

After a couple seconds of silence in the elevator, the bell dinged and the feminine voice of A.S.T.R.A. declared that she had arrived.

Glynda stepped out through the open doors and stalked over to Ozpin's desk. The said headmaster was busy scrutinizing something on his holoscreen and occasionally mumbled to himself and took some notes on his Scroll.

Glynda opened her mouth, ready to make some scathing comments before noticing certain factors that indicated that whatever the problem was, it was big. First off, his mug was left unattended. This wouldn't have been a huge issue, but it was filled with coffee and it was clear it had been sitting there for the last hour or so, cooling off. Ozpin would never let deluxe coffee beans imported from Haven to go to waste.

Second off, and probably the most alarming, was that his cane lay haphazardly on the floor. This weapon had been with the man for nearly his entire life and he would never try and damage it.

The blonde professor, taking note of the situation, shut her mouth and quietly made her way to the desk and sat down on one of the chairs in front of it. She let Ozpin grumble and write some more notes before clearing her throat.

The grey haired man flinched and looked up, as if he had forgotten he had called her up in the first place.

The headmaster sighed in exhaustion and straightened his glasses, which were crooked from the position they were in. He rubbed his temples. "Thank you, Glynda, for coming here on such short notice. I know that you prefer to get your full eight hours of sleep, but this matter could not be delayed."

Glynda nodded, her attitude now completely serious. "What seems to be the matter, Headmaster?"

Ozpin closed and opened his mouth several times, as if he was trying to form his words but failing. He just shook his head. "Maybe it will be better if I showed you instead of explaining it."

He swiped up on the holoscreen, sending a video feed to the tabletop closest to her. The blonde immediately recognized this as one of the hundreds of security cameras dotting the Emerald Forest at strategic locations. She gulped. Had the enemy made their move?

She gingerly clicked the play button. For the first couple seconds she saw nothing of consequence except for a lone deer grazing on some fresh grass in a clearing. Then all hell broke loose. The camera started to analyze some strange energy signature, and red words started flashing on the feed. _"Increased energy levels detected. Unable to identify."_

Glynda raised a single eyebrow in shock. Unknown energy? The cameras in the Emerald Forest were able to detect the slightest amount of Aura, Semblance, Dust, or any other natural forms of energy. The only energy they could not identify was… Her mouth dropped in disbelief. Magic.

Just as the thought crossed her mind, a sparkling bundle of blue electricity suddenly appeared in the small clearing, scaring away the deer and singing dry bits of grass and branches. Glynda looked up at the Headmaster, who was busy consulting his notes. "The Spring Maiden?!"

Ozpin just gestured to the camera, telling the professor to keep watching. Glynda turned to face the screen again, her mind in turmoil. If Spring was here, then there was a possibility that she could help out Amber, the Fall Maiden. That would be great news all in itself, but why did Ozpin look so stressed? Was Spring captured? Did she lose her powers too?

A couple seconds passed and Glynda watched with bated breath, dreading the worst. Then, as quickly as it started, the lightning stopped and dropped two unconscious boys onto the grass, one of which was in the nude.

Glynda was too surprised to avert her eyes from the boy's exposed state. Her brain ran dry and she just kept watching. This was where things became even weirder.

The two boys woke up and started embracing each other, crying about how the nude one got his body back. She saw one of the boys, possibly the older one, say something about Alchemy and made a sculpture out of the dirt ground, shocking everybody.

Then Grimm attacked, obviously attracted by the electricity from earlier. The older one clapped his hands together and slammed them onto the ground, creating two stone fists that jutted out from the ground to trap an Ursa that was charging at them.

He then made a spear of some sort and moved in for the kill, but both boys were forced to retreat by creating a pillar of rock after a horde of Grimm stomped into the clearing.

Then the rest of the story played out: the boys waited for a bit, talked, then got onto a Bullhead that was from Beacon. And on it was Ozpin himself.

The video cut to a stop.

All was quiet. The blonde professor was busy trying to wrap her head around what the energy was, and if it was magic, how were the boys using it? And what was Alchemy? How did they appear out of nowhere?

She turned to face the Headmaster, who had finished his notes and was waiting patiently for her to get her mind around things. Once he felt that she had composed herself, he began. "I know what you are thinking Glynda. How can two _boys_ use magic? But that doesn't seem to be the case for this."

The professor looked up in confusion.

Ozpin stood up and faced the window. He stared upon Vale, which was still glowing and teeming with activity even at this time of night. "We know for a fact that only the Maidens can harness the powers of magic. But somehow, these unknown boys can somehow use it. But what if it wasn't magic at all? They said something about Alchemy. Maybe that is the root of their powers. Glynda, I need you to look up and find whatever you can on this so called Alchemy."

Glynda nodded but spoke up. "Excuse the interruption, but where are the boys now?"

"Well the younger one, Alphonse Elric, is in the infirmary. You saw how pale and thin he was, correct? He is suffering from extreme malnutrition and will be bedridden for the next couple days."

Glynda burned with rage. The poor boy was half dead! Whoever put him in such a state would face tremendous consequences under the power of the law. "And what of the elder?"

Ozpin turned to face her. "Edward Elric is currently treating his wounds. He has a puncture wound on his arm and it is being taken care of by Miss Verbeck. Doctor Maximillian assured me they will not leave the infirmary."

Glynda sighed in relief. "Well that's one thing we don't have to worry about. We can't let an unknown boy wander around Beacon Academy, especially at this time of night."

Ozpin simply nodded but was immediately distracted my something peculiar. _That's odd,_ thought Ozpin, _I remember the forges being closed. Why are all the lights on at this time of night?_

 **[-]**

Edward grunted in pain as his automail leg popped out. He never really got used to the sudden painful feeling. Then again, nobody was prepared for the feeling of all the nerves in your body forcefully attaching to wires in the automail.

Ruby, who had donned on smith gloves and apron, winced and apologized profusely. She gingerly held the leg up and gently placed it onto a nearby table, recently cleared of all tools and metals, courtesy of Violet, who was busy chowing down on a burrito of some sort.

Ruby's eyes glittered as she beheld the full leg in all its glory and marveled at how intricate, yet tough, all the wires and gears held together. Edward just watched on in amusement. Ruby's excitable nature towards machinery was interesting. He had no doubt that her and Winry would get along just fine.

His amused smile dropped. Winry. She must be terrified, not knowing where the two were or why they weren't back yet. He promised to return to her. And the only way back was to fight this evil entity that had Truth worried.

He gripped the edge of the table he was sitting on. He swore, when he saw Truth, he was gonna punch him so hard that he'll regret even existing.

"Edward?"

The alchemist flinched and turned towards the voice. "Yeah?"

Ruby fidgeted. "Um, it's just that…are you okay? You're breaking the table."

Edward looked down. Sure enough, the wood was beginning to splinter in his hands. Luckily, his hands were calloused enough to block the splinters from getting into his skin. He immediately released the table and looked at Ruby apologetically. "Sorry, I never get used to the feeling of my leg being taken off or reattached," he lied.

Ruby looked apprehensive but she accepted the answer anyways. Her attitude took a complete turn and she was back to her normal self. "Anyway, who made this leg? I wanna know how they did it! What material is this leg made out of? I've never seen it on Remnant before."

Edward leaned backwards. "Well my mechanic made the entire thing by herself. The material is called automail. It's a mix between steel and some carbon fibers, making it much more durable than if it were just made of steel."

Ruby nodded slowly. This was a new development. She had never thought of integrating carbon fibers into the frame of metals to make them stronger. She made a mental note to reinforce the blades on Crescent Rose with this strategy.

Ruby took out a roll of measuring tape and measured the height, width, circumference, and just about every single surface of the prosthetic. After typing it into her Scroll, she hefted the leg up and placed it into a nearby machine that looked sort of like a bug, ugly black box with wires sticking out of it. She punched a few buttons and the lights on the machine turned bright blue.

The pedestal which held the leg rose up, straight into a mesh of laser beams and x-rays that carefully analyzed the different gears and wires of the prosthetic.

While waiting for the machine, Violet came walking over, wordlessly turning her nose to the smell of burning metal in the forges nearby. She offered Edward a small drink, which he gladly accepted. It was pretty hot in here. He muttered his thanks and took a sip.

His eyes widened and he immediately spit out the drink. Coughing and eyes watering, he glared at Violet. "God, what the hell was that?"

Violet's eyebrow raised in amusement. "Milk. You need the growth spurt, little boy."

"DON'T CALL ME LITTLE!"

Violet was taken aback a little and frowned. She lightly hit him in the head with a nearby wrench. "Don't be so dramatic. Your short, admit it. And you need milk to grow taller. What do you have against it anyways?"

Edward gripped his head in pain. He was used to this after all the abuse from Winry, but that didn't make it hurt any less. "Milk is evil," he hissed, "Evil!"

This time, Ruby hit him in the head with a wrench, laying Edward flat upon the table. Ruby pouted. "There's nothing wrong with milk, you meanie!"

Edward just glared at the two girls, who were both quietly exchanging fist bumps. "Just go back to scanning my leg so I can walk again."

Ruby smirked and started to take off her heavy gloves. "Well lucky for you, I just finished breaking down every property of that leg. I should be able to make one in about a week, if the delivery of materials comes on time."

Edward blinked. Well that was fast. Back at home it took a good couple of hours to carefully break down every component of a prosthetic leg as complicated as this. But this procedure literally took about two minutes.

Edward just wordlessly accepted the proffered leg and set it up to attach to himself. Remnant was weird. Technology was weird, the people were weird, and the monsters were…actually the most normal things he saw so far.

Ruby bit her lips as she watched Edward set up his leg. She had meant to ask him a very personal question, but seeing how it was downright rude to ask and they barely knew each other, it would have been awkward beyond reason.

Thankfully, Violet came up and as she finished scoffing down some sweet crackers she mumbled out a near unintelligible question. To be frank, it sounded like a cat was gargling some peanut butter after trying to speak.

Edward yelped as he tightened the final screw to connect the leg to the port. He glanced over at Violet as he experimentally curled his toes. Luckily, nothing seemed to be of alarming importance. The heat from the forges had dried up the milk in the metal. The only problem as that it was a bit sticky, but he could just wash that off later. "What'd you say?"

Violet swallowed and cleared her throat. "I said how'd you lose that leg, if you don't mind me asking? There are scars near the edges, so you couldn't have been born with it."

The forges were silent as Edward just kept adjusting his leg. Without looking at any of them, Edward simply said, "Our village was attacked once by some Grimm and one of them got my leg. Luckily, the village doctor was really good and he got a mechanic to come give me a new leg after it healed."

That was a blatant lie and they all knew it. Violet, for one, didn't believe that story because the scars were way too clean to be caused by a Grimm's teeth or claws. Ruby just felt in her gut that the story was false. But they both didn't say anything.

Edward jumped off the table and walked around experimentally. He glanced up at Ruby, who was taking off her heavy apron and hanging it on a nearby hook. "So if it's gonna be done in a week, should I be around here so you don't go overboard with the upgrades? I don't want a cannon or anything in my leg, you know?"

Ruby dusted off her pajamas. "Nah, you don't really need to come over here; just message me on your Scroll on what you want on it by tomorrow," she yawned widely, "Sleep's catching up to me and school is in a couple hours."

Edward slowly nodded. "Yea…Scroll…What the hell is a Scroll? I don't suppose you mean the stuff that you write on?"

They both just looked at him with expressions of shock. Violet simply took out that metal pad with the screen from earlier and held it in his face.

Edward just laughed nervously. "Oh, _that_ Scroll! In my village they call those telephones," he lied.

"What the heck are 'telephones'?"

Edward sighed in resignation as they started to exit the building. Ruby stayed behind to turn off all the lights and shut down the equipment used. Violet took point, leading him back to the infirmary where he would be sleeping tonight. This world was going to take a lot of time getting used to.

 **[-]**

Alphonse jumped in his bed as the door across from him flew open. The doctors had finished their tests a couple minutes ago and they had him hooked up to several futuristic machines that occasionally beeped and hissed.

Doctor Maximillian was the one to complete the tests. He had told the young boy that he was going to tell the nurses to get him some food. Alphonse had been so excited to finally eat that he started blurting out everything he could think of. Unfortunately, Doctor Maximillian had told him that they could only bring soft foods over and not a lot of it either. The doctor told him that his stomach was far too shrunk to contain a large amount of food. If he tried, his belly would burst, so they had to take it slow, gradually stretching his stomach walls.

Alphonse was a bit dejected, but he quickly asked if they could bring him some chicken noodle soup, his favorite dish made by his mom before she passed away.

Back at the hospital room, the door flew open and revealed a blonde boy with a huge smile on his face. In his arms were several clothes, all varying in size and color. "Rise and shine, Al!" bellowed Edward, nearly tripping over himself.

Alphonse just smiled. Leave it to Nii-san to lift his spirits when he was down. The younger brother sat up in his bed, quietly marveling at how soft the cushions were. After being robbed of having a sense of smell, taste, and touch, it was amazing to take in everything once more.

Edward lumbered over and dumped a load of clothes onto the bed. He stretched his back and winced a bit as he felt a couple of bones pop. He sat on the edge of the hospital bed and reached behind him to grab some clothes. "Violet was nice enough to bring some clothes for us so I just took a whole bunch. Some might be a little big on you now but after you gain some weight and muscle they'll fit you just fine."

Edward grabbed a plain green t-shirt and handed it to Alphonse, who paused a bit, taking in the fresh laundry smell and warmth. He grimaced as his weak muscles ached to try and force the shirt over his head.

The Fullmetal Alchemist noticed and smiled sadly. He stood up and grabbed the shirt. He eased the material over his younger brother as gently as possible and lightly massaged his little brother's shoulders. "Don't worry, little bro," he assured, "Soon you'll be stronger. Maybe even as strong as me!"

Alphonse just laughed a bit and hit him in the arm with a bony fist.

Edward faked being hurt and fell onto the bed, causing a fit of giggles to erupt from the both of them.

A couple minutes passed as the two brothers joked around, making up for time they had missed since childhood.

Their laughs died down and the atmosphere slowly grew serious. Edward lay on the bed, covering his eyes with his new arm. "Man, I can't believe that bastard gave me no choice but to come here. If he just accepted my Gate of Truth then we would be back in Resembool by now."

Alphonse just sighed and leaned back into the pillows. "Well, there's no point in groaning about it now. We just have to do this job and we get to go back home, right? Let's just find this evil being Truth told us about and we'll be back in no time."

Edward sat up. "Yea, I guess you're right. But that's not gonna stop me from punching that bastard's face in the next time I see him!"

To accentuate his point, he dug a fist into his palm, grinning maliciously as his brother just rolled his eyes.

A knock on the sides of the door caught their attentions. "Special delivery for the hungry boy!" chirped Violet, her purple eyes twinkling with amusement.

She rolled in a trolley with two bowls and a steaming pot of soup through the open door. Alphonse squealed with delight and Edward just grinned widely, his stomach growling once more. Now that Alphonse had his body back, Edward didn't need to eat as much anymore, but his appetite was strangely the same.

Violet wheeled the cart over to the bed. Alphonse gratefully grabbed a bowl and set it down on a food tray attached to the bed frame. Edward greedily grabbed at a bowl but a metal ladle slapped onto his wrist, causing the boy to fall off the bed and roll on the floor in pain.

Violet huffed as she filled Alphonse's bowl first, who paid no attention to his older brother's theatrics. He smiled widely. "Thank you, Violet-san!"

The doctor-in-training smiled in delight and grabbed him in a hug, crushing his body. "Aw, it's no problem, my wittle Al! Aw, you're so much more polite than your older brother!"

Alphonse flailed his arms wildly, desperate to get a breath of fresh air.

Edward got off the ground and pried the teen off of his brother. Violet still made grabbing motions at the air, trying her best to get back to the now gasping teen.

"Come on, let's just eat. We're getting kinda tired."

As if to accentuate his point, they all yawned widely. Violet grinned sheepishly and gave a very generous portion to Alphonse, who wisely kept his distance from her.

After getting their portions, the two brothers clapped their hands together. "Itadakimasu!"

It was the best thing Alphonse had tasted in years.

 **[-]**

Edward snuggled into the small bed next to his brother's bed. They had finished their food half an hour ago, and they were now ready to bed down and get ready for tomorrow.

Edward yawned widely and stretched. He turned to face Alphonse, who was shifting around uncomfortably. "G'night Al. Wish for a better day tomorrow, eh?"

"Goodnight, Nii-san," came the reply. It was quiet for a couple seconds before his timid voice came up again. "Nii-san?"

Edward grumbled. "Yea, what's up?'"

"How do you go to sleep?"

The alchemist's breath caught in his chest. He should have known. After being stuck in a metal suit for most of his life, of course Al forgot how to sleep. Edward let out a choking gasp as he tried to swallow the lump in his throat. "Y-You just relax I guess and just close your eyes. Sleep will come eventually."

"Ah…Thanks, Nii-san. Good night."

Edward couldn't say anything. He just let out a choking grunt and turned to face away from his brother. Now that he got his body back, Al could finally enjoy the things life had to offer. Things that Edward stole from him. If he didn't try and revive their mom, Al wouldn't be having so much trouble with such normal things.

The light of the shattered moon bled through the curtains. Edward sighed. _Yea, wish for a better tomorrow…_

Exhaustion took over and he knocked out almost immediately.

 **[-]**

It was a sunny day in Beacon Academy. Students bustled around; going about their daily business as the bell for breakfast rang, drawing everyone to the cafeteria to get some much deserved food. Just a typical day.

Well, actually, it wasn't. Nearly everyone's eyes were drawn to a young boy, maybe around 16 to 17 years old, with blonde hair and golden eyes, grumbling as he navigated through the long halls of the school.

Edward Elric yawned widely as he brought a hand up to his face. He rubbed his eyes tiredly.

He had left the infirmary a couple minutes ago after asking Doctor Maximillian if he could go get some food for him and his brother. After a couple minutes of arguing, the doctor finally relented and gave him a handwritten list of foods that Alphonse could eat. He also gave the alchemist a piece of paper with his signature on it that proved that he was allowed to go get some food.

Edward racked his brain. He was just here last night, how come this place was so confusing?

After asking for direction from some blushing girls, he finally made his way to the double doors that led to the cafeteria. As he walked in, he took in as much as possible.

It seemed like a pretty normal school so far. The kids had to wear school uniforms and they seemed like good kids. Some had really wacky hairstyles while others looked like they were some extras in a mediocre movie.

He grabbed a plate, well aware of the many eyes trained on him as he piled food on. He knew that he looked way out of place, but to be honest, he didn't care. He had much more people openly gawk at him before, so this was nothing new.

After handing the signature over to a grumpy middle-aged lunch lady, he made his way back out through the doors. However, an eager voice caught his attention. "Edward! Over here!"

He turned to see the weirdest looking group he had ever seen so far. And that was saying a lot. After all, he hung out with a motley group of chimeras and a Homunculus for a couple months.

Ruby waved energetically at him, her silver eyes glinting. Behind her, there was a white-haired girl who just stared at him with indifference, a blonde girl who was looking at him with curiosity, and a raven-haired girl who was busy reading a book of some sort.

On the other side of the table was a scrawny blonde kid, a tall and athletic redhead, a black-haired teen with a pink stripe in his hair, and a girl with orange hair who looked like she had taken about 50 kilograms of sugar and coffee.

Edward looked up at a large clock on the wall. Alphonse wouldn't be awake for a little bit, so he figured he could hang out for a while.

He made his way over to the table, carefully navigating past the many benches in his way.

He sat his plates down in the table and sat down next to Ruby, who had made space for him on the already crowded bench. "Sup."

Introductions went by quickly. Edward noticed with some surprise that everyone at this table seemed to have some relation to color. For example, Weiss's name literally translated to 'White', and Ruby's name was affiliated with red. In fact, that seemed to be the case for everybody, now that he thought about it. He vowed to ask Ozpin later.

Yang leaned over, blinking in surprise at the large amount of food on his plates. "So, Eddie, what's up with the food? That looks like it could feed an entire family."

Edward raised a single eyebrow. "Eddie?"

"Well would you prefer it if I called you Shortie?"

Angry tick marks appeared on his head. "Eddie is fine…"

Pyyrha Nikos, the redhead, spoke up. "I'm guessing that you're bringing some food for somebody?"

Edward nodded, casually munching on a drumstick that he plucked from his plate. "Yep, my little brother. He's a little too sick to get food on his own right now, so I'm just getting some for him while he rests."

Ruby piped up. "Aw, is he ok? What happened to him?"

Edward racked his brain for an acceptable answer. He obviously couldn't say that he was suffering from severe malnutrition that left him in a near skeletal state.

Before he could think of a way to change the topic or formulate a lie, a yelp caught their attentions.

They all turned to face towards the doors, where a group of boys seemed to be harassing a teenage girl with brown hair. They were pulling on something that looked like rabbit ears. Edward blinked. Seriously, who wears a rabbit ear hairband to a school? That was just weird.

He heard Juane growl. "Ugh, Cardin. You'd think he'd take my advice a little more seriously after I saved him from an Ursa."

The rest of the group shook their heads in pity and anger. _I guess you can't teach an old dog new tricks._ Ruby thought.

She turned to face the alchemist. "That's Cardin; he's a pretty big meanie around here… Where'd he go?"

To her horror, Edward had gotten out of his seat and was now making his way over to the group, who was now laughing and jeering at the poor girl's fearful state.

Edward's golden eyes crinkled with anger. He always hated bullying. Bullies were a bunch of cowards who acted tough once they got in a large enough groups, but they were secretly cowards on the inside.

"Hey!" he yelled, bringing everyone's attention over to the group. "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

A hulking teen with orange hair turned to face the blonde and loomed over him, most likely an intimidation factor. Edward snorted. If that was able to scare him, then he would have died of fright when he fought against the Homunculi.

Cardin Winchester sneered. "What's it to you, shrimp?"

Edward leaped up and kicked him in the stomach, his face contorted with rage. "WHO'RE YOU CALLING SHRIMP, YOU OVERSIZED IDIOT?!"

Cardin's eyes bugged out and he collapsed with a wheeze. There was a moment of stunned silence where the only sounds were pained gasps coming from the downed teen. Cardin lifted his head, a little bit of spittle drippling down his chin as he glared daggers at the alchemist, who stared back with equal intensity. "Get that asshole!" Cardin spat.

The teen's cronies ditched the bunny eared girl, who wisely stepped back from the inevitable fight about to happen.

Edward grinned and shifted into a fighting stance as the kids picked up various pieces of utensils to fight with.

A guy with a Mohawk picked up two steak knives, a rather plain looking boy picked up another knife, and a blue haired kid just ran at him with his fists.

The Mohawk kid reached him first, swinging wildly with his knives, desperate to land a hit on the smirking teen. Edward danced around the blades, carefully scanning for any openings. The kid wasn't half bad with the knives. Anyone with no training could have been taken down very easily, but the kid had some skill. Which meant that he handled knives on a daily basis. _Just what do they teach around here where a teenager could use a knife?_ Edward thought.

He ducked under an overhanded swing and slammed a palm upwards, hitting the Mohawk kid's arm up over his head. The blonde took advantage of this and swooped forward, driving an elbow into the teen's stomach, sending him stumbling back.

But what happened was weird. When Edward hit him, there was quite a bit of resistance. Like he hit solidified air just above the kid's body. His eyes narrowed. Further knowledge was necessary.

Next to come up was the plain boy with the single knife. Just from his swings, Edward knew that he used a sword to fight. It was apparent in the way he held the weapon and thrust it. However, this kid seemed a little on the dull side and made too many mistakes in his attacks, which allowed Edward to let in some rapid punches to his abdomen, sending the plain boy back a few feet.

Last to show up was the blue haired kid with just his fists. Edward smiled devilishly. He always enjoyed a little fist fight once in a while. Everyone underestimated his skills because of how small he was, but they're confidence was wiped off of their faces when they found themselves on the ground.

Sky grunted as he swung his fist wildly. The stupid kid was just dancing around, his smile never leaving his face. Sky glared at him. He hated it when the opponent got all cocky.

Sky decided to try and kick him instead. Edward hopped to the side as a poorly executed roundhouse kick aimed for his head. He almost laughed. It was like he tried to copy Xingese Martial Arts while being extremely drunk.

The alchemist grabbed the leg and pushed it to the side, sending Sky tumbling. Edward finished by taking advantage of the stumble and gave a kick of his own, which drove the air out of the teen's lungs and sent him flying into the rest of his team, who were still struggling to get up.

Team CRDL looked up in anger. But nobody was as angry as Cardin was. He glared at the teen with hatred in his eyes, trying to intimidate the blonde. Edward glared back even harder. He fought a "God" that hated his guts, so there was no way in hell he was gonna be scared of a bumbling teen with a huge ego.

Cardin was about to get up until he heard laughing. Looking around, the teen saw nearly all of the school students giggling and aiming their Scrolls at them. Clearly they found that an entire team of Hunters-in-training having their asses handed to them on a silver platter by a small teen very amusing.

Cardin grit his teeth. He hated to back down, but he knew that it would only create more problems in the future and shatter his tough guy image if he continued.

He got up, brushing his school clothes, which were covered in food and dust, and glared at the grinning blonde. He growled as his teammates stood up behind him. "You're gonna regret this, blondie. You better watch your back."

With that, they angrily brushed past Edward, making sure to shove him to the side as roughly as possible. They really shouldn't have done that, because with a sneaky display of alchemy, Edward secretly fused the material of their shirts to their pants

Later in the day, the teens would find it very difficult to use the bathrooms.

Edward huffed and brushed off his borrowed clothes. Bullies were the worst. He glanced around and nervously laughed as students flashed lights at him with their Scrolls. Maybe they were taking pictures or something? That would explain the flashes of light. Man, this world was freaking weird.

He felt a small body hit his back at high speeds. He turned to see a smiling red-haired teen with stars in her eyes. He saw something floating down behind her. _Rose petals?_

Ruby hopped up and down. "Oh my gosh, that was so cool! Where did you learn to fight like that? You really put Cardin and his meanies back in their place! Gosh, I can't imagine you with a weapon when you fight! That would be so cool! If you don't have a weapon, I can help make one for yo-"

Yang's arm grabbed her sister's cloak and held her struggling body in the air with one hand. "Come on sis, give him some air. I swear, you're like this every time you see something cool," she turned to face the confused blonde, her lilac eyes burning with a fire. "Ya know, Eddie, I'm impressed. You fought pretty damn good for someone of your size.

Tick marks appeared on Edward's head. "What the hell do you mean 'someone of my size'?"

"Um…excuse me?"

Teams JNPR, RWBY, and Edward turned to face the voice. Behind them was the brunette teen that was being bullied earlier. Edward raised his eyebrows. For a head band, the material of the bunny ears looked surprisingly realistic.

Velvet wrung her hands together, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. "Um, I just wanted to say…" she bowed her head, "Thank you for helping me!"

Everyone watching blushed, even the students who weren't even in on the conversation. _Cute!_

Edward laughed nervously and rubbed the back of his head. "Eh heh, no problem! I hate bullies, that's all!"

He pointed to her bunny ears. "Is your headband okay? It looked like it was important to you."

Silence.

Velvet looked shocked and confused. "Headband?"

"Yea, headband. They look really freaking realistic by the way, they must have cost a lot of money, huh?"

Velvet shrunk in on herself while RWBY and JNPR looked on in shock. What the hell was he doing?!

Velvet sniffed, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. He had helped her because he thought she was a normal person with bunny eared headbands? Not because she was a Faunus being bullied?

"T-They're not part of a headband…"

To convey her point, her ears wiggled ever so slightly, barely noticeable to the unobserving viewer, but perfectly evident to anyone that was paying attention.

Edward nearly threw up in shock. He stumbled back a few steps, a look of horror on his face. Blake, who had been watching in shock, quickly turned to anger as she registered the fear on his face.

Edward nearly tripped on a platter that lay forgotten on the ground. _No way, that's not natural! Not at all!_

"That's barbaric," he whispered, "Unnatural. Who did this to you?"

An image of a white animal with long hair and dead eyes appeared in his field of vision. The dog hybrid opened its mouth, its voice filled with pain. _"Edward… Oni-chan…"_

Velvet, unable to take the look of horror anymore, broke down sobbing and ran towards the open cafeteria doors, where shocked students let her pass through.

Teams JNPR and RWBY rounded on him, and even Ren, who was normally stoic, was frowning with disappointment.

Yang grabbed Edward by the lapel of his shirt and brought him to her face, her lilac eyes flickering red. "What the hell was that for?!" she yelled, shocking Edward out of his horrified stupor.

Edward's mind was in turmoil. Who would do this to the bunny girl? She was clearly experimented on! Why did everyone seem so calm with her presence?

He glared back at the teenage girl. He shrugged off her hand and half stumbled and half ran towards the infirmary, students opening up a path. He ran through the doors, letting them slam shut behind him.

As soon as the doors slammed shut, thunderous whispers erupted. Most of the students looked scandalized and were already posting about the incident on their social networking sites.

For a while, all teams RWBY and JNPR could do was to stare at the still shaking doors. Yang huffed with anger and turned around. "What the hell was his problem?"

Weiss, who didn't particularly like Faunus, even felt disgusted. "I agree. That poor girl did nothing wrong. Maybe Edward is biased towards Faunus?"

Blake just nodded, her amber eyes burning. After being bullied around and segregated for being a Faunus, she knew full and well how bad it felt to be discriminated about. She clenched her fists.

Juane looked shocked. "I thought he was a pretty cool guy. He didn't seem racist at all!"

Ruby, who tuned out the arguments behind him, started purposefully walking after the alchemist.

Pyyrha noticed her leaving. "Ruby, where are you going?"

Without turning, Ruby continued her stride. "After Edward."

"What?!" they all yelled.

This time, Ruby did turn around, her red cloak following her movements. "Edward might just be racist, but I want to hear his reasons for that. Maybe there was another reason that he acted this way. And I'm gonna figure out what."

Blake grit her teeth. "After that, there is very little possibility that he is not biased towards Faunus. I've seen that attitude before. And it almost always belongs to a racist bigot who thinks Faunus are unnatural."

Ruby threw up her hands. "Even so, if we just talk to him, maybe we can change his mind about Faunus! Nothing you guys will say would change my mind. I'm going."

With that Ruby stormed out, pushing through the doors out of the cafeteria. Team JNPR sighed and went back to eating. Once Ruby had her mind set, there was no changing it. You either went with her, or against her.

After some hushed whispering, the rest of RWBY decided to follow. Yang went to make sure Edward knew his place and didn't try to do anything funny to her precious sister. Weiss just followed because she was simply curious. It was never that pleasant to talk to an extremely racist individual and she wasn't about to let Ruby go by herself with those straightforward views of hers. Blake quietly stalked along, mentally setting up scathing comments to tell Edward.

They walked in silence, following the tell-tale signs of rose petals on the ground.

 **[-]**

Ruby sighed in apprehension. Her team had caught up with her in the infirmary lobby. She remembered that Edward and his brother were staying in the infirmary for the time being, so it made sense to go there first.

After convincing the nurse that they were friends of the blonde, which aroused a scoff from Yang, they made their way to a white door with a clipboard hanging on it that said "Edward and Alphonse Elric" on it.

Ruby turned to her friends, who were reacting with various degrees of emotions. "Guys, please, let's just hear him out first, okay? Edward is a nice guy and I just want to know why he acted like that."

The rest of the girls grudgingly agreed. The little reaper brought her hand up and knocked twice on the door. A couple seconds passed until a quiet voice came from behind the door. "Come in."

Ruby pushed the door handle and opened the door and her and her team were stunned into silence. Honestly, Ruby didn't know what to expect. Edward said his brother was sick, so she assumed that he had the flu or something. But the young boy around her age sitting on the bed nearly made them hurl in horror.

Alphonse raised his eyebrows in confusion as he registered the shock on their faces. He placed a bookmark between the pages of _The History of Remnant_ , a book he was reading to figure out more about this world, and gently set it down on the table next to the bed. He looked up politely and straightened his clothes, which sagged around his body. "May I help you?"

Ruby was the first to speak. "A-Are you Alphonse Elric?"

Alphonse smiled and nodded, his long blonde hair bobbing with him. "That's right. You must be Ruby! Nii-san told me a lot about you yesterday! Speaking of which, have you seen him? I guess he left to eat but he didn't come back yet."

Blake spoke up. "Actually we were wondering the same thing too. Your brother did something somewhat wrong and we wanted to talk."

Alphonse sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He gestured to a couple of chairs against the wall of his hospital room. "Have a seat?"

Not to be rude, Team RWBY quietly sat down on the chairs. They looked up at Alphonse with nervousness and mild horror. Just what happened to the poor boy that made his body like that? It looked like he just spent a month without food and water in the deserts of Vacuo!

Alphonse cleared his throat. "Um, this is a complete guess, but this is about the Faunus, isn't it?"

He had the sneaking suspicion that it was exactly that. And the looks on the girl's faces confirmed it. He sighed. In the book he was just reading had several chapters on the Faunus and how they played a part in the history of Remnant. Like his brother, he had thought that they were the aftermath of a cruel experiment, but after extensive reading, it seemed that they were completely natural. Of course, Edward didn't know this, and Alphonse deducted that the girls were here because they thought Nii-san was a racist.

Blake nodded. "You seem more open to Faunus than your brother is."

Alphonse shook his head. "Yes, but please understand, Nii-san isn't racist at all. He hates racism as much as the next person."

This time, Yang spoke up. "Yeah right! He flat out called Velvet unnatural for having bunny ears! I'm pretty damn sure that guarantees a spot in the racist category."

Alphonse was torn. How would he explain this? That they were from a different world where that was no such thing as a Faunus? Definitely not. And he couldn't say that where they lived didn't have Faunus either since Faunus seemed to reside the entire world. It was impossible to go around never seeing a Faunus.

The only way to satiate the girl's anger was to tell a truth but not the whole truth. Alphonse gulped. Here went nothing. He hoped he didn't ramble and give too much information.

"Please, there's a reason for his behavior. A year ago we were doing some research in our village and our superi- I mean, friend, recommended us to talk to a scientist who had some knowledge of what we were researching. He had a daughter and a dog."

Weiss raised her hand. "Sorry for interrupting, but what does this have to do with the current topic at hand?"

Alphonse just grimaced. "Please don't misunderstand, I'm getting there."

Ruby hushed Weiss, who just pouted and turned crossed her legs. Ruby turned to face the blonde. "Sorry. Please go on."

"Thank you. As I was saying, he was well versed in the topic we were interested in, and he had a library he let us use. We made friends with his daughter. Things were fine for a while."

Alphonse's eyes darkened as he stared down at the sheets. "But things went bad really quickly. You see, in our village, you get a license to practice scientific experiments. The man had one but he failed a test a year before, which nearly made him lose it. The committee gave him one more chance to give proof of his research and he started growing desperate. Nii-san and I noticed his behavior but put it off as stress until the next day."

The blonde's hands clenched the blanket and RWBY listened carefully on, completely engrossed in the story. They were still confused as to how this related to racism, but they didn't interrupt.

"The next day, we came back to research some more. We found our tenant in his lab kneeling over something. He said that his experiment was done and he wanted to show us. But we never expected he would do something so horrible."

Blake couldn't keep in her curiosity. "What did he do?"

Alphonse gave a shuddering gasp. "You see, he was well versed in biological studies. So naturally he made something biologically. He…he fused…"

Ruby gasped. "Oh no…"

"H-He fused his own daughter and his dog together!" He half yelled, pained tears dripping down his cheeks. "He got so desperate he developed a human and animal hybrid constantly in pain!"

Team RWBY sat in horrified silence. Human-animal fusing? That was extremely technologically advanced. Unethical too. How this man became a scientist was a mystery.

Weiss cleared her throat, her voice uncharacteristically quiet. "He fused his daughter and his dog? How? That technology is far more advanced than what we have right now."

Alphonse wiped his tears away. "It was 'revolutionary' at the time. He still got to keep his license even with the ethical implications. He got murdered later by a criminal who claimed it was against the will of God to do such things. He also killed Nina out of pity."

Alphonse couldn't handle it and broke down into sobs again. After not being able to cry after years of being stuck in a suit of armor, it was perfectly normal for him to be extremely sensitive to memories. He thought he accepted the past and got over this but apparently scars never truly faded away.

The four girls just sat in silence. No wonder Edward reacted like that. He obviously had some very disturbing memories and it was understandable how he acted.

Blake and Yang looked downcast. And here they were blindly jumping to conclusions. Ruby said that there might have been a different reason for his attitude and she was right.

Ruby looked out the window. What the man did was disgusting. Anyone would act that way after experienced something like that.

The sun shone brightly, as if mocking the serious atmosphere. Ruby sighed. She hoped Edward turned out okay. Oum knows where he was now.

 **[-]**

Edward was sitting down on a bench in the courtyard. He mindlessly broke a stick he had picked up nearby and it was now in several pieces. Once he couldn't break it anymore, he picked up another one and repeated the process.

Edward sighed and grabbed his head in his hands. Damn, he shouldn't have acted like that. He should have known better. From the looks on everyone's faces, it was evident animal and human hybrids were fairly normal around here.

Now he had to apologize to the bunny girl for his behavior and to Ruby and her friends. They clearly found his actions disgusting.

The alchemist leaned back into the bench and stared at the sky. The sun was shining overhead, sending warm waves of light through him. Several of those metal ships flew overhead, probably carrying around people or resources.

The alchemist turned to face the school. He was going to have to find a way to apologize and fast before relationships turned for the worst. He knew literally zero about Remnant so far and he needed to learn more if he wanted to go back home.

"Edward Elric?"

He turned to face a voice behind him. Standing several meters away was a blonde lady with her hair in a bun. She was wearing a black and purple vest with a purple cape. She also held a large Scroll and what looked like a riding crop. To be honest, she looked like a teacher that had a part time job as a superhero. Edward almost chuckled. Honestly, that would have been the most normal thing around here.

He got up from the bench. "That's me. Did the Headmaster send you?"

The blonde teacher lady nodded and gestured at him to follow. "He would like to have a word with you, if you have time. He is fairly busy today and he says he will not have time to speak with you again until tomorrow night."

Edward stretched. "Alright, I'm coming. I have a couple questions to ask him anyway."

Without a word spoken, the two blondes started to make their way over to the large tower in the distance, which gleamed in the afternoon sun. Edward's eyes glinted. He was gonna learn more about this world. After that, he was gonna find the being that had this world's Truth nervous, open the Gate, and punch Truth in his goddamn face.

He smiled a little. Yup, a pretty solid plan.

 **[-]**

 **And I'm done. Whoo, a whopping 8500+ words in this, making this the longest piece of written work I have ever done in my life.**

 **Also, sorry for not updating in a loooong time. In my other fic I said that I accidentally deleted a near complete chapter of this by accident and I had to redo it from scratch. Sorry about that.**

 **But yeah, how was it? To be honest it didn't seem that strong, but I did the best I could. Please stay patient until the next chapter, which may not come out for a while, sorry about that. I'll be sure to put more action in the next one.**

 **So yea, next fic I will be updating would be my Youjo Senki x RWBY crossover, so please be patient.**

 **Thanks for reading, be sure to drop a review on how I can improve. Again, this is my first time writing on , so pwease have mercy! Jk, make it as scathing as possible if you want I don't care.**

 **Till next time!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own FMA: Brotherhood or RWBY. They belong to their respective owners.**

 **[-]**

 ** _Alchemy (noun/al-che-my)_** _: An ancient science coined by the first, and only, Alchemist, Alexander Dunistrum. Alchemy was the science soon put into action after the first traces of Dust on Remnant's crust was discovered. Alexander used crude, but effective, tools to break down properties of the first Dust crystals. He was convinced that through understanding Dust, he would be able to harness the energy inside and possibly transmute, or transform, it into other forms of energy._

 _One of his most famous philosophies was 'equivalent exchange'. He knew that it was impossible to create energy where there was none, and impossible to destroy energy were there was. There had to be some form of energy or resource to transmute. For example, one could not create energy out of thin air: it has to come from another source. To convert a five pound Dust crystal, one could only make five pounds of new energy. Therefore, the Law of Equivalent Exchange was created, but it serves no practical use in today's society._

 _However, this proved to be far too complex at the time and Alexander was accused of performing sorcery by his fellow townsmen. He was burned at the stake and his precious manuscripts on ancient Alchemy were lost._

 _Only a few vague accounts of his legacy remain today. His studies on early Dust crystals were lost to time._

 _If anyone finds such documents, please contact the number below at the bottom of the page and send them to Vale Museum of Arts and Sciences immediately. A Lien prize will be given upon receiving the studies._

At least, that was the official definition for it. Ozpin drummed his fingers on the top of his desk. Surely there was more to Alchemy than turning the energy in Dust crystals to other forms of energy. Of course, they were able to harness Dust now and use its energy to power everyday items, but creating a whole new form of energy? That was groundbreaking. Since Dust lost power once it left the atmosphere, this new type of energy could potentially open up brand new transportation mechanisms free of Grimm. It was a pity Mr. Dunistrum's work was lost to the sands of time.

But Ozpin couldn't help but feel as if this was not the same Alchemy used by young Edward Elric. After all, Alexander's viewpoint on Alchemy was harnessing Dust energy and converting it into another form of more powerful energy. Elric's so-called Alchemy was able to create objects from other objects. And if that was what Alexander was trying to do, Ozpin would gladly give up his position as Headmaster of Beacon and travel as a circus trapeze artist.

He idly closed the one tab out of many on his Scroll. He had spent a good portion of last night studying Alchemy in Remnant's history. He had cross referenced his findings with Glynda and they both came to the conclusion that the data given was too broad and lacking so they couldn't find a clear consensus.

Even Bartholomew was perplexed. Being a history professor, Ozpin assumed he would now a little bit more about Alchemy than him and Glynda. But to his surprise, Bartholomew was just as in the dark as they were.

He launched into a tirade of overlapping discussions about how great it would be to find the lost data by Alexander and how his theory on Alchemy could benefit the whole of mankind.

Ozpin quickly excused himself before he became trapped in the never-ending cycle of words coming from the excitable doctor's mouth.

A full day had passed and Ozpin still learned nothing more about this Alchemy. A gargantuan conundrum was at hand. If this boy was able to use such power, then it must have been magic. But that was not possible. In the tale of the Maidens, it was recorded that the old man who had access to magic gave his powers to the four girls that had changed his life. All other fairy tales were fakes, so Edward could not have received magic otherwise.

Perhaps through experimentation by an unknown party he received strange powers? If someone else had access to the early documents of Alchemy, they could have experimented on the two siblings. Maybe that was how they got those powers. It would explain how the cameras weren't able to analyze the energy coming from both boys.

That would also explain why young Alphonse Elric was so emaciated. Perhaps they were subject to inhumane devices by the unknown party and backfired. It may have also been responsible for Edward's strangely thin and nearly muscle-less right arm and the metal pieces sticking out of his shoulder.

Ozpin sighed and sipped his coffee, noticing to his distaste that it had gone cold. He discreetly poured it into a nearby potted plant, which had maintained a steady diet of old coffee for the past four years. It was a wonder why it was not dead yet.

A light dinged on his Scroll, indicating that someone with Level 5 clearance had entered the elevator along with an unregistered person. It seemed that Glynda had arrived with young Edward Elric.

He put his Scroll away and turned his chair towards the window behind him. When one is in unknown territory and seeks answers, they should give off an air of superiority and feign disinterest. It was a strategy used to intimidate many, and was no doubt effective. Also, it made Ozpin feel powerful and in control.

 _I do hope that young Elric takes this as seriously as I am…_

 **[-]**

The walk to Beacon Tower was long and awkward. It was only made more awkward by Goodwitch herself.

Edward tried many times to initiate any kinds of conversations with her in order to learn more about this world but to no avail.

"So, what exactly do you do as a professor?"

"…"

"Is there a library I can use somewhere?"

"…"

"…eh…nice weather we've been having, huh?"

"…"

He gave up.

Soon, they reached revolving doors at the foot of the tower. They both wordlessly pushed past them and walked into a well-lit and sparkling clean lobby. There was a pretty woman with brown hair sitting at the receptionist desk, and she gave a small nod to the professor and went back to her work.

Glynda pulled some kinda card, which he assumed was her Scroll, and held it up to a small black glass thingy inside the elevator. The thing beeped, so Edward assumed it was some sort of advanced security clearance key.

Glynda pushed on the top-most button and the golden doors slid shut. As the elevator started its ascent, Edward could only marvel at how smooth it was. Edward was never very fond of elevators, seeing how he usually ended up getting in them with fairly dangerous folks, such as Hawkeye, Envy, and many others.

But back at home, elevators literally boxes dangling on a string. They were very unstable and shaky. But this elevator was smooth as hell. He could feel it. He didn't even notice that they were going up at first until his ears popped.

They finally reached to top in silence and the elevator doors dinged and slid open. What greeted Edward was one of the most bizarre sights he had ever seen.

Giant gears grinded and turned above his head, separated only by a sheet of thick glass. A large window encircled more than half of the room, giving an unobstructed view of the forest, school, and a city in the distance. He could see several of those Bullhead thingies flying in the air too, some of them dropping down and landing at the school.

Up ahead of them was a large bronze table with glowing blue figures on the top of it, and a chair could be seen turned away from them.

Glynda and Edward strode over, their footsteps slightly muffled by the constant turning of gears above them. _Seriously, how can you concentrate on work with all this noise?_ Edward wondered.

The blonde professor reached the edge of the table and cleared her throat. "Headmaster, I have brought Edward Elric."

At first there was no reaction. Then the large swivel chair slowly turned, revealing the grey-haired man with folded arms and a serious expression on his face, no doubt to express complete dominance over the room. He looked like an older, less scary, version of Mustang. A wannabe Mustang.

Edward snorted, barely suppressing his mirth. Ozpin faltered for a second and nearly lost composure. Glynda clenched her Scroll. "Now what is so funny, young man?"

Edward hid his mouth from view. "Nothing, nothing, you just reminded me of an acquaintance of mine."

Ozpin nodded slowly. "I see…"

He turned to the blonde professor, who was looking at the chuckling teen with annoyance. No doubt she thought that such attitude in front of one of the most influential people of all of Remnant was inappropriate.

"Thank you, Glynda. If you may excuse us, I would like to discuss matters with Mr. Elric here in private. I will call for you if anything shall arise."

The professor nodded wordlessly and gave one last dirty look to the still shaking blonde. She huffed and turned, her heels clicking on the floor as she made her way back to the elevator.

Ozpin waited until the doors slid shut before he uncrossed his arms and gestured to a chair in front of him. "Please, take a seat."

Edward sat down, preparing some questions and acceptable lies in his head.

"Nice thing you called me here, I have some questions of my own. I was hoping you could help me out."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow. "As do I."

He was about to make a risky move here. It could be potentially disastrous, but if played off right, he would be able to learn more about who the brothers were, where they came from, and what their Alchemy exactly was.

"In fact, Mr. Elric, I was hoping you would entertain me with a little chess game."

As he said this, he pulled out a grey and black chessboard with silver pieces and black pieces attached, perhaps with magnets on the bottoms of them.

Edward's only response to this was to raise a single eyebrow. He had not expected this. He wanted to ask questions and get answers, god damnit, not play a stupid game of chess with this old guy.

"What the hell does playing chess have anything to do with us asking each other questions?"

Ozpin smiled behind his mug of coffee, this time freshly brewed. "There is a catch to this chess match. Whenever a piece is taken, the one who has taken it must as a question, any question, and the other has to answer no matter what. And the winner of this chess match will be able to make any demand, within reason, and the other has to carry through with it. Equivalent Exchange, is it not one of the fundamentals of Alchemy?"

He noticed young Elric stiffen in his seat, his eyes growing bigger and more wary. "How do you know about Equivalent Exchange and Alchemy?"

Ozpin smiled again. "To answer that question, you have to take away a piece, Mr. Elric. Do you agree to these terms?"

Instead of looking apprehensive and nervous, like Ozpin thought he would, Edward Elric simply grinned. But it was not a nice one. It was predatory and practically oozed with confidence.

He didn't really get how chess pieces and answering deep questions were equivalent at all, but the blonde decided to let it pass. Edward brought his chair closer to the table. He wordlessly moved a silver chess pawn two spaces forward. "I accept."

They both smiled internally. Let the game begin.

 **[-]**

Alphonse sniffed forlornly. He felt warmth drip down his face.

After being trapped in a metal body unable to do regular people things, finally letting everything out was just so…great.

Of course he felt terrible rethinking the horrible things that happened, but it was underlined by relief. It was immensely satisfying.

He felt a warm hand lightly grasp his shoulder. He turned with tearful eyes to see kind and gentle silver ones. Ruby wordlessly handed over a couple of tissues from a nearby tissue box. Alphonse smiled and muttered sincere thanks.

He blew his nose, the noise reverberating in the silent room. Blake and Weiss just sat, stunned, while Yang and Ruby were more calm but still sad. They had dealt with loss before, after all.

Alphonse sniffled once again. He smiled grimly. "Um…sorry about that…I didn't mean to dump all this information on you…"

Ruby flailed her arms around. "Oh, no, we don't mind at all! I think it was better if you just told us! I mean you look like you've been holding this in for a while and needed someone to talk to, and you look too nice to make up a lie. And-"

Ruby's mouth was clamped shut by a Yang's arm. She grinned. "Sorry about that, it's just that Rube's gets real talky when she gets nervous."

Ruby shrugged off her sister's arm and glared back, pouting cutely. "I do not!"

They fell into bickering and even lightly bopping each other on the head. Alphonse giggled a little. They reminded him of the little fights him and his brother had as little kids.

There was a slight knock on the door. Ruby and Yang quieted down. "Come in!" called out Alphonse.

The door creaked open to reveal the impassive face of Doctor Maximillian, presumably here to check up on Alphonse during his morning shifts. "Mr. Elric, if you could please fill out some forms for the school to…"

His voice faltered as he saw four teenage girls sitting on nearby chairs, all trying to look as innocent as possible. They all gave the doctor a small wave and a couple muttered greetings.

The doctor said nothing but nodded back in response. He slowly made his way to the foot of the desk, the awkward atmosphere overpowering. He wordlessly handed Alphonse a clipboard with some papers on it and a pen.

Just before he left, he turned. "I'll come to collect that later. Try to be as accurate as possible." He nodded once more at the teens. "Ladies."

The door clicked shut.

"…Well that was awkward."

Alphonse agreed with Yang. He had no explanation _why_ the entire situation got awkward. It was just one of those things, he surmised.

Blake saw something that caught her attention. A glowing screen showing most of Alphonse's body structure. There were three screens, one showing the bones, one showing the muscles, and the last showing blood circulation.

Normally, such a thing wouldn't have caught her attention. But this was different because it was so…different. What she meant by that was his bones were very underdeveloped and weak. The muscles were more or less unused, and the blood circulation was very slow.

She had no idea how this boy was still alive. By all means, he should have been dead a long time ago, with or without Aura. The damage was just too extensive. It was like the data for a living corpse. She was by no means a doctor, but all her experiences in the White Fang had her dealing with patients that had fallen victim to the extreme measures by both the group and anti-Faunus groups alike.

She glanced back at the group. It seemed Weiss was just as interested in that as she was. The teen's face was whiter than normal, and her eyes were wide with shock as she tried to stare at the data.

Blake turned back to the boy, who was busy asking Ruby what insurance was. _What happened to you? How are you still alive?_

 **[-]**

Ozpin was about to tear out his hair in frustration.

Normally, Ozpin was a very calm and collected man. While his hair might have told otherwise, he was still relatively young. But even if he was young, he was far more mature than the normal person.

But this sniggering boy was really pulling on his strings. It had only been several minutes into the chess match and he was already losing. Badly.

He had gained some pawns and a bishop here and there, but young Edward Elric had already claimed the lives of both his bishops, one knight, a rook, and five pawns.

The boy had been relentless in his questions. First were pretty basic things, such as how extensive the library was, what exactly they taught here, etc.

Surprisingly, he still didn't ask the headmaster about how he knew about the Law of Equivalent Exchange. He figured the teen was testing the waters a bit. Trying to gain more knowledge before asking what he really wanted to ask.

Ozpin sighed as the teen claimed another one of his pawns.

Ed smirked. "Alright, no more skipping around. The only way you would know about Alchemy is if you observed us earlier. And I doubt you just looked it up for no reason. But nobody was there to see me and my brother. So, my question is: how did you see us use our powers?"

Ozpin smiled a bit. Observant fellow. He pulled up a file on his Scroll and showed the screen to the boy, who leaned in with avid curiosity.

What Edward saw on the screen shocked him. There they were! Smaller moving pictures of Edward and Alphonse themselves, in the forest in which they first came. It reminded him of some of the movies back at home, but the quality was off the charts.

Ozpin waited for the video file to finish before turning his Scroll off and stuffing it back into his suit. "We have camera feed all over the forest. It is impossible for anything to pass under our radar, especially something that's responsible for charring 10 square meters of grass."

Ed leaned back, a wary look in his eyes. If technology was this advanced, it would be wise to watch his step. He _really_ needed to research more about this world.

Well, if all went well, he would have access to just that. Just a few more moves and the headmaster would be backed into a corner.

Edward grinned wolfishly. _I guess playing chess with that bastard colonel was worth it._

It was a long story. On one of their missions, Edward and Colonel Mustang were forced to share a train cart for five hours due to unrelenting traffic.

Edward had been bored out of his wits until Mustang pulled out a portable chessboard with magnetic chess pieces and asked if he wanted to play.

Of course, the young alchemist had no interest in such things and said he would rather read some of his alchemy books. The bastard smiled evilly and snatched the book away, much to the ire of the blonde.

"I'm not the only one bored out my mind here, Fullmetal," smiled Mustang through gritted teeth. "Don't make me order you to play a damn game of chess."

And so the remainder of the trip revolved completely around Edward trying to beat the colonel at chess.

He found it extremely trying and infuriating at first. Mustang was just too good.

After the mission, Ed spent most of the train ride back home mulling over strategies on how to beat the bastard, and he was proud to say that he had become amazingly adept at it. Nowhere near the same skill level as Mustang though.

Edward set the claimed pawn down next to the rest of Ozpin's victims. "Alright, time for the money question."

He leaned forward, all signs of mirth gone. "How do you know about the Law of Equivalent Exchange?"

Ozpin sighed. He wordlessly pulled out his Scroll and swiped a couple times, opening up a folder that he had downloaded off the internet for research. He handed the Scroll over.

Edward accepted and scrutinized the machine. On the glowing screen was a drawn picture of some bearded dude who looked like he hadn't shaved or showered in months. Underneath the picture were several headlines and documents, all pertaining to the art of Alchemy.

Ed almost smiled. It seemed that even this world had Alchemy. If he could find out how to utilize it, there was a good chance he could use it to his advantage.

But the more he read, the more disappointed he got. It didn't help that the Alexander dude died and nearly all of his research was destroyed by angry villagers.

Edward sighed and handed the Scroll back to the headmaster, who had been watching with interest.

"Anything interesting?"

Ed waved it off. "Nah, it's not exactly what I was looking for. It would be nice to have the data with me, but there's not much I can do."

"I see…"

Ozpin moved his knight and claimed a rook. "Mr. Elric, what happened to you and your brother? My hypothesis is that you were both experimented on, if there's anything to go by your arm, leg, and your brother's health."

Edward laughed as he mulled over an acceptable answer. Obviously he couldn't give the full truth. He could go with a half-truth instead. A little unfair, perhaps, but he didn't want to be locked in a mental hospital for the remainder of his time on this planet.

"Me and Al weren't experimented on. We just had the bad luck to piss off a couple of people and paid the price. All because we were stupid kids."

They were silent after that. Ozpin narrowed his eyes as Ed took a sip of the coffee he had given him. What did he mean by that? Was their state their punishment? If so, what kind of terrible thing could they have done to warrant such cruelty?

Ozpin shook his head slightly. He could figure that out later. The only question he had left was how this boy was able to use magic. He figured that the two brothers may have dubbed the magic as Alchemy, in a bid to confuse certain individuals and keep their secret safe.

Ozpin scrutinized the board, looking for any openings. Ed's hand wavered over the board. _If I can play my part right, I can finish this easily. All Ed has to do is to move one of his rooks and I'll be able to cut him off. It's not over yet!_

Edward moved his knight and claimed Ozpin's last rook, opening up his king for a checkmate. A checkmate. Now how did that happen.

Ed grinned in the face of Ozpin's stunned silence. "Now you gotta withhold your end of the deal, headmaster."

The grey-haired headmaster stuck his hands on his face, nearly screaming. He was an undefeated champion in chess for years. Over his time at Beacon, Ozpin had seen countless grandmasters fall to his hand. He had crushed competition and won many a bet through chess games. But somehow this boy was able to trump him at his own game. Inconceivable!

"You said the winner can make any demand within reason and the loser has to follow through with it, correct?"

Ozpin said nothing but nodded. He just hoped this boy was going to ask what he wanted him to ask.

"My demand is that my brother and I be able to stay here for the time being. Just until we can get on our feet. And that includes me having access to the library."

Ozpin blinked. That was it? Granted, it was within reason, but he was expecting something else, like a large sum of money so the two boys can leave the school.

But this was a rare opportunity. If the headmaster had won, he would have asked the boy to stay at the school, only to keep an eye on him. He had no doubt some major repercussions would appear if they were set loose and drew the attention of James.

Ozpin smiled behind his hand. He could still salvage this. So in the end, he had basically still won. And the boy fell right into his trap.

Edward smiled behind his hand. Ozpin had fallen right into his trap. He knew the headmaster would not like the idea of the him and Al leaving the school. He wanted to keep an eye on them. And to be honest, the alchemist didn't want to leave the school. The world was just too strange outside, and they couldn't just run off willy-nilly. He needed info. And the school would provide that. A whole lot of info. It was a win-win situation either way.

Ozpin straightened and stood up. "I agree to your terms. Under one condition."

Ed raised an eyebrow. Whatever this was, it couldn't be that bad.

"You and your brother have to enroll as students here. At Beacon."

"…What? Why the hell would we do that? No disrespect, but I haven't been to school since I was a kid. It's a waste of my time."

Ozpin strode over to his desk and sat down on his swivel chair. "I understand that, but I cannot simply let you stay here like this. We have certain policies to follow. The school system can only take care of the students. We cannot spend resources on civilians. But if you were a student, you would have unlimited access to food, shelter, training, and of course, the library. And you don't have to worry about paying us. As students, education is free. Of course, there are some things you do need to pay for, but the basics will be supplied for you both."

Ed thought it over. On one hand, he really didn't want to go back to school. He had too much on his plate at the moment. But on the other hand, Al would receive proper care to get back on his own two feet and Ed could learn more about this wacky world.

The alchemist stood up and walked over to the desk. He stuck out his right hand. He really needed to start working out his right arm and probably cut his nails. They were long enough to pierce a boar. "Deal."

Ozpin smiled and grasped the hand with his own. He gave a firm shake. "Then let's get you accommodated. I will have Glynda set up a room for you."

 **[-]**

Edward flopped down on his new bed. The room Professor Goodwitch had given him was a relatively big one. There were two queen sized beds, a large closet, two desks on the opposite side of the room, a moderately sized window, and a door that led to a small bathroom. It reminded him of the military barracks back at home.

Edward sat up. Ozpin had escorted him to the infirmary. As they entered, Doctor Maximillian approached him and handed him a clipboard. Ed peeked over his shoulder and recognized it as his brother's handwriting and something about "insurance", whatever that was.

The doctor told him that he had already entered the info into the school database and how the siblings didn't have insurance whatsoever. Ozpin simply took the paper off and tossed it in the trash. "No need for that, doctor," he had said, "Edward and Alphonse Elric are enrolled as students from now on. The school will cover all of their bills. Sorry to make you do all this."

Without a second look, Ozpin walked away, followed by a confused blonde. Ed barely overheard the doctor murmuring and cursing under his breath about the bastard Headmaster and how it would take forever to retrieve the data from the database.

Edward walked in the hospital room and found Al sitting, reading a book about the history of Remnant or whatever. He had told his older brother that Ruby and her friends had come over to meet him and helped clear up the racist issue at hand. They left a little before him and Ozpin arrived.

Ed sighed and thanked Al. That was one less problem they had to deal with.

Edward carefully explained the details surrounding the implications of them entering the school. Unsurprisingly, Al was all for it. He was pretty excited to learn more about this world after he healed up somewhat.

After that, Ozpin escorted him to the student dorms and gave him a plastic card of some sort with a black bar on the back. He swiped it on a grey plastic box with a slot on it next to a door with the number 58 on it. The box beeped and the door clicked open.

Even a mundane thing like this astounded Edward. It was a far-cry from the lock and key doors he had at home. If they had this thing, it would be near impossible to break in without the help of Alchemy.

Ozpin handed him the card, which he gingerly handled, like it was gonna blow up or something. The grey-haired man gave him a piece of paper with a whole bunch of classes and a map on it. Which he appreciated. He hated getting lost.

"Unfortunately, your brother would not be able to attend class due to his…problem, so I would advise taking good notes for him to catch up on after he heals. I apologize if this annoys your brother in any way."

Ed shook his head and smiled softly. "If there's any consolation, Al loves studying more than Ruby loves cookies. He'll catch up in no time."

Ozpin nodded and smiled a bit. "Well then. I hope this room suits to your liking. You will be required to take some classes today, the most important being Combat Training. Professor Goodwitch will be teaching, and if I'm not mistaken," he glanced at his Scroll, "class begins in approximately 30 minutes. I would take this time to change into your school uniform and make your way across the campus."

Ed grimaced. He hated uniforms. He could barely stand wearing those blue military uniforms he was forced to wear at ceremonies back home. Staying in a uniform every day for God knows how long was gonna be hell for him.

They said their goodbyes and went on their separate ways.

Ed sighed as he made his way over to the closet. He opened the doors, dreading they didn't look as bad as he hoped. He had seen some earlier, at the cafeteria, but he never got a close look at them until now. He shut his eyes quickly. Of course they looked like the most constricting things on the planet. Crisp and folded, the uniforms looked like they were cut from cardboard, seeing how stiff they looked.

Ed gingerly picked up a suit vest looking thing and started putting it on. He dumped his clothes on his bed and shrugged on some of those pants.

The pants weren't that bad to be honest. They were a bit constricting, but they were doable.

The most annoying was the vest and suit. The vest was fine enough, if a bit itchy. The suit had golden embroidering on it, and looked like it wouldn't be much use in a fight.

Ed opted to leave his suit unbuttoned. It got in his way, and there shouldn't be too much of a fuss over it. Hopefully.

He neglected wearing the shoes given by the school. He would like to stick with his boots, thank you very much.

He checked himself out in the mirror on the door of the closet. He didn't look half bad. In fact, he looked pretty badass, especially with the suit unbuttoned like that. Casual, yet stylish.

Oh, and he almost forgot. He dug around his pants pockets on the bed. His fingers grasped cool, circular metal. His State Alchemist watch. He would never leave home without it. He was surprised it survived the trip. All that electricity could have knocked some dials out of whack.

Ed ruffled his hair a bit. Time to leave. He picked up the paper on the bed and flipped to the back, where it showed the map of the room. He pinpointed a circular room with the words "Combat Class" on it. It was quite a ways from here, but he figured he could make it before class began.

The alchemist stepped out the door. He made sure to bring his card with him, the map, and his watch.

He could already hear students outside heading to classes, or leaving them. He assumed it was the upperclassmen leaving their classes. They had different schedules from freshmen, after all.

Edward stuck his hands in his pockets and strode out of the dorm hallways. Hopefully he wouldn't get lost again.

 **[-]**

The alchemist didn't get lost, but he was annoyed for a different reason. He got to Combat Class fairly early, right before the bell was supposed to ring. He figured it would be rude to enter early, especially if Goodwitch was preparing something, so he waited outside the door.

But that didn't annoy him. What annoyed him was that after the bell rang, everyone who had class just stared at him. Most with disgust and some with curiosity. He figured they didn't like him very much. After that debacle with the rabbit-eared girl at the cafeteria, it was obvious the sympathizers wouldn't appreciate his presence.

He felt like a particularly hated monkey at the zoo. _I better apologize to that rabbit girl later…_

Good thing they didn't get too close. After all, he wasn't planning on staying here for too long. Making lasting friendships would make a lot of problems in the future.

A heavy arm slung over his shoulder. "What the heck are you doing here, Eddie?"

Ed staggered a bit before glancing across his shoulder. There stood a grinning Yang Xiao Long, all anger in her eyes he saw just two hours prior replaced with mirth. No doubt her opinion of him changed after their talk with Al.

Ed was dragged into Yang, his head smooshing directly into Yang's…assets. He felt his face turn beet red. If the boys in the audience didn't hate Edward before, they did now. Most of the male populace would have given anything to get up close and personal with those.

"Damn, you're going for that bad boy style, huh? Looks pretty good on you! If you were a little taller, I'm pretty sure I would be all over you."

"Don't call me short!" came the muffled reply as the alchemist desperately tried to escape from the blonde's clutches.

"Miss Xiao Long, such actions will not be tolerated at this school. Do so on your own time."

Yang immediately let go as Goodwitch herself stepped out of the door, quelling all conversation as her icy gaze pierced the crowd.

Yang smiled disarmingly. "No problem, professor. Just admiring Eddie's style of clothing."

The professor raised an eyebrow at Edward's unbuttoned state, but said nothing against it. Obviously the boy didn't like the idea of wearing a uniform.

She walked back into the class. "Everyone take a seat. Class begins in a couple minutes."

Everyone started to pile in. Ed hung back with Yang, fighting to keep the blush down to a minimum. Why were girls so weird no matter what world they were in?

He felt a light hand tap his back. He turned to face Ruby, Weiss, and Blake, who were looking with various degrees of shame and relief.

Ruby smiled softly. "Sorry about the entire thing during breakfast. We all thought you were a racist or something."

Ed raised his hands placatingly. "No, it should be me apologizing! I didn't mean to insult the Faunus at all. I'm just not used to seeing too much of them, that's all."

He looked pointedly at Blake. "I'm not racist. Sorry if I came off that way."

Blake blinked in surprise. Did he know that she was a Faunus herself?

Weiss interrupted. "I know we all are sorry and forgive each other, so can we please get in class? I do not wish to be late."

Ed heard Yang laugh. "Geez, so pushy of you, princess."

"It's heiress!"

"Same difference."

Ruby cleared her throat quietly. "By the way, what are you doing here? I didn't know you were enrolled as a student. First semester is done already!"

Ed gulped a little. "Oh, uh…I'll tell you guys later. I think Goodwitch is gonna say something about it actually. For now let's just get inside."

They walked in before they could continue their discussion. Blake tapped Ed's shoulder right before they entered. He looked back with questioning eyes.

"Did you figure about…you know…who I am?"

"You mean a Faunus?"

Blake reeled back. They barely knew each other, let alone see each other, and he already figured out? No way had Alphonse told him, since she didn't tell him. How did he figure out?

"H-How?"

He pointed to the bow on top of her head and smiled. "I saw it twitch back at the cafeteria. I thought it was a trick of the light, but after that incident, I figured it out."

Blake opened her mouth, but Ed beat her to the punch. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. I'm not gonna tell."

Blake sighed in relief. It would have been a disaster to have everyone other than her closest friends figure out. Especially with White Fang activity increasing in Vale. She preferred to keep her identity a secret.

"Just out of curiosity, what kind of Faunus are you?"

Blake fingered her bow. "Cat," she whispered, as to not catch the attention of any eavesdroppers.

She saw Ed smile. "You're gonna get along fine with Al."

"What do you mean?"

He was already walking in the door. Blake just shrugged a bit. Eh, it must not be that important.

As soon as the alchemist walked into the room his breath was taken away. This place was just huge!

It closely resembled an amphitheater, complete with seats around the stage, which were already occupied by chattering students.

On the ground floor, there was a large circular arena completely made of some kind of metal. There were two doors on one side of the wall, maybe leading to the changing rooms, and a large glass panel on the top of the wall, which was blinking with blue light. Maybe it was a bigger version of the Scrolls here.

Speaking of which, he should get one of those. He had no doubt it would come in handy in the future.

Ruby skipped over next to him and smiled a bit. "Bet you don't see much of this back at your village."

Ed reeled. "Huh? Oh. Yeah, we don't have anything this high tech."

They all sat down on some empty seats. He noticed the people closest to them subtly moved back a few feet. Maybe they still didn't like him, or RWBY was more volatile than he normally thought. He supported both hypotheses.

On the arena floor, Professor Goodwitch swiped through the rosters on her Scroll. It was a huge surprise that Ozpin suddenly called her and informed that Mr. Elric would be part of her class from now on.

Under normal circumstances, Glynda would have declined. But these weren't normal circumstances. It seemed the boy could use magic. Unusual, she knew. But it was true. And that meant they had to keep a close eye on him and his brother for the time being. Until they could find the reason why these boys were able to use magic.

She cleared her throat, her voice easily echoing in the circular room. "Welcome to Combat Class. Today we have a new student, Edward Elric. He had his application process delayed for certain reasons, but now he is a student here. Therefore, he will be participating in school activities from now on."

She glanced over to the blonde, who looked uninterested but she knew he was paying close attention to every single word that came out of her mouth.

"Team RWBY, I am holding all of you responsible for showing Mr. Elric around the school and help him if he has any questions. That is all."

Yang slung an arm around Edward again, who tried to extricate himself with a look of annoyance on his face. Ruby gave a small fist pump, Blake just nodded, and Weiss bowed slightly in affirmation.

The professor looked back at her Scroll. "Today, we will be doing single-battles. One member from a team will be randomly chosen and he or she gets to pick another member of a different team. Keep in mind they must be approximately the same skill level. We can't have the more skilled students taking advantage of this, now can we?"

The class murmured. Sure it made sense and was fair, but most wanted to better their image in this school. Granted, if they won this one, it would help their image out immensely, but there was nothing wrong with taking the easy route too.

The blonde professor tapped her screen and the giant glass panel above burst into color, startling the young State Alchemist.

Several sliding faces zoomed past one side of the glass panel. It was a blur at first, but the faces started to slow down and become clearer. He saw some faces he recognized, like Yang's and Pyyrha's, but a majority of them were unfamiliar faces.

The machine finally decided on a face. A familiar, asshole-ish looking face. Of course it was Cardin Winchester.

Ed leaned forward and smiled behind a hand. He couldn't wait for whoever he would pick to beat his bastard ass into the floor. As mentioned before, he hated bullies. He couldn't wait for the dude to pick someone to beat his ass up…wait a second.

Cardin, who had been walking down the steps to the arena, spotted Edward like a lioness eyeing its prey. He sneered. Time to get payback for the humiliating fight earlier and whatever he did to his clothes. He nearly wet himself trying to use the bathroom because his pants and shirt were fused together.

He had no doubt that it was that blondie kid. But he wasn't worried. The only reason the kid got an upper hand was because of the surprise factor and the sudden attack. And what kinda useless Semblance was able to meld clothes together? Like that would be useful in a fight.

If Goodwitch noticed the vehement gazes coming from the hulking teen, she made no indication of it. "Mr. Winchester, please choose someone to brawl."

Cardin pretended to think about it. He avoided looking at Jaune. Not because he was scared of the wimpy guy, but because he pretty much saved his ass from that Ursa. He was a far cry from liking him as a friend, but he had a grudging respect for him.

After making a show of choosing who to pick, he pointed a finger at Edward, who had a resigned look on his face. "I'd like to fight the runt over there."

Before Glynda could say anything about proper etiquette, Edward had already bounded over the railings and leaped onto the arena floor. He smiled like the devil and cracked his knuckles together. "Wanna say that again, muscle-head?"

Sparks flew as they sneered at each other. The onlooker's closer to the railings swallowed nervously and wisely stepped back.

The blonde professor cleared her throat. "Are you quite sure about this, Mr. Winchester? Mr. Elric does not have his weapon with him at the moment. The only fair treatment would be him to fight you using hands-on combat, which you will reciprocate. We cannot have you fighting an unarmed student with a weap-"

"Ah, don't even worry about it," Edward interrupted, "I have a weapon handy. Even if I didn't, I don't need a weapon to show him who the top dog is."

The professor was stuck between a rock and a hard place. Rules wise, she couldn't stop the fight. The student picked had every right to battle against another student.

But there was the underlying issue of Edward not having an awakened Aura, if he even had one. She received specific orders from the headmaster to keep the boy's "alchemic" powers as far under radar as possible.

Also was the fact that he had no weapon with him. She saw no evidence of him having a weapon as he came into the school. Unless he was talking about that metal leg of his, there was no discernable look of a single gun or blade on his person.

But as she tried to stare him down, he only looked back with determination. Now that wouldn't have been enough to stare her down, but it was what was in those eyes that shocked her so. This boy was a seasoned fighter. And she didn't doubt that he didn't need any powers or weapons to fight.

Nevertheless, she ground her teeth nervously. Oh, why did Elric already have to make a scene and anger one of the most volatile underclassmen this year?

"Are you sure about this, Mr. Elric?"

Edward said nothing but flashed a wolfish smile and quick thumbs up.

Goodwitch sighed. God, she needed some painkillers. Even Oobleck was unable to give her headaches such as this.

"Very well. However, due to certain technical issues, we will not have your Aura readings on screen. If I see the duel getting too dangerous, I call time and both of you will stop. Immediately. Understood?"

The teen's nodded in affirmation.

"…Mr. Winchester, please change out of your school clothes. Mr. Elric, do you have anything to change into?"

A shake of the head.

"No matter. We will supply you with temporary combat clothes until you have time to find or make your own."

With that, she turned to the rest of the class. "As these two changes into their clothes, I will go over what I will be scoring on."

She launched into a tirade of boring rules and guidelines that Edward tuned out. He was more psyched about the future "fight". As he walked into the lockers, he saw Cardin slide a finger across his neck and mouth out words that looked like "you're dead meat". Ed scoffed. Like that was gonna scare him.

He made his way into the lockers. Luckily, it seemed the two teens were separated by a wall of iron, maybe to stop them from interacting with each other or sabotaging each other's weapons and armor.

Speaking of weapons. Ed felt bad about what he was about to do. Hopefully nobody would notice until much later.

He had told Goodwitch that he had a weapon. He was sure she knew he was lying but didn't want to expose him in front of the students.

And he couldn't just transmute his leg into a blade or something. First off, the students would definitely notice his prosthetic limb, and second off, he had no experience using his leg as a blade. He used it for kicking, not slicing. And depending on the weapon Cardin had, it could damage his leg in some way. Best to play it safe for now.

So he had no choice. He walked over to a fairly long bench near the wall and placed his hands on one of the bars making up the seat part. With a little quick Alchemy, he was able to remove a fairly long bar and transmuted it into the shape of a fancy looking spear. It was not much, but hey, better than nothing. And if worst came to worst, he could borrow Greed's strategy and turn the iron as hard as diamond by simply rearranging the atomic structure a bit. It would be barely noticeable to the observant eye.

Now he had a weapon. Next problem. Where were the clothes the professor said she would supply?

A dull whine brought his attention to the opposite wall, next to the lockers. There was a grey box with a red light above it. As the whining stopped, the red light turned green and the box opened up to reveal a grey shirt and long black pants with the Beacon Academy emblem embezzled on both of them.

Ozpin sure liked to put his beloved school's influence on everything, didn't he?

It took the alchemist only a couple seconds to strip out of his clothes and lay it on the mutilated bench. Hopefully nobody noticed that until later.

He heard a knock on the side of the wall. He turned to see Professor Goodwitch in the doorway, a look of apprehension on her face. "Mr. Elric," she said, "Are you sure about this? You have no weapon to fight with, and Headmaster Ozpin told me to keep your…abilities…low profile."

The alchemist flashed a quick smile. "What do you mean I don't have a weapon?"

He picked up his spear from the bench, startling the blonde professor. "But, how did you…?"

Ed raised an eyebrow.

Goodwitch sighed. "Of course. 'Alchemy'. Well if you are so certain about this, I will let you fight. But. I forbid you of using your powers. It is clear you are a seasoned fighter. That is the only reason I am letting you do this. Understand?"

Ed nodded.

It was silent for a bit before the professor turned and walked out. "Make sure you are ready when I call you out."

He grunted in affirmation and sat down, where he waited for a good two minutes, mulling over scenarios.

Ed grasped his metal spear and gripped it tightly. He could hear Goodwitch calling out the fighters. From the sound of things, it looked like Winchester was already outside.

Ed mulled over strategies as he walked towards the door. What kind of weapons would Cardin bring? Due to his size, he wouldn't be surprised if he wielded a giant hammer or a sword. And since he was slow, he would have to wear armor to protect himself.

The blonde stepped past the doors and into the chattering crowd above. Everyone was watching with rapport and it looked like some were…betting?

Sure enough, most of the students were putting down some kinda plastic cards, all different colors. He could only assume it was currency.

He glanced over at where Teams RWBY and JNPR were sitting. It seemed that the second group had moved over to sit next to the four girls. It also looked like they had explained the situation to them, seeing how JNPR smiled and waved at him. Nora was openly cheering while Ren tried to calm her down.

He saw Ruby mouth some words out. He swore she just said "I'm betting good money on you!"

Professor Goodwitch's voice caught his attention. "Fighters, take your spots."

Ed and Cardin moved to opposite ends of the circle, both eyeing each other and their weapons. The rest of the crowd murmured as they finally took notice of Edward's weapon. It was a bit underwhelming. They had expected him to have some kinda flashy weapon of mass destruction, but all he had was a fancy looking spear that looked like it would break at the slightest hit. It didn't even look well maintained. There were weird rectangular marks all over the weapon.

"Awww…" groaned Ruby, "I thought he had some super cool weapon. Like a mechashift or something…"

"Don't count your chicks before they hatch," said Pyyrha, who had been watching with interest, "From the way Edward is holding that spear, it's clear that he's very well trained."

"I agree," spoke up Weiss, "His poise is near perfect. There are only a few flaws in his footwork, but those are fairly minor."

The group watched with renewed interest. Surprisingly, the next person to speak was Jaune. "Uh, I know I'm not one to talk, but that spear looks kinda flimsy. Wouldn't it break after one hit from Cardin's weapon?"

"From the look of things, it seems Edward isn't worried. It seems that he has been in situations like this before." Ren surmised as he scanned the blonde's pose.

Unbeknownst to the group, it was true that Ed had been in this situation before. But compared to the other situations, this was a walk in the park. After fighting crazy religious guys, a terrorist, a crazy Homunculus team, and God itself, this was like taking candy from a baby.

Edward eyed his opponent's weapons. He was half right about his initial hypothesis. The teen was wearing armor, tempered steel from the looks of it. Fairly difficult to transmute.

And he didn't wield a sword or a hammer. He held a giant mace with a weird red crystal in the center of the bladed head. It was clearly meant to do something. The way it looked was…not normal. Plus the fact that it looked a lot like the Philosopher's Stone didn't help out.

Glynda stared at both fighters. "Are the contestants ready?"

Nod.

"Remember. Due to technical difficulties, Edward's Aura meter will not be shown. Instead, I will call time if I feel the fight gets too dangerous. All Mr. Elric has to do is get Mr. Winchester's Aura into the red, while Mr. Winchester tries to overpower Mr. Elric. Understood?"

Another nod. Ed smiled internally and gripped his spear. Finally some action!

Glynda raised her arm. A couple of seconds passed in complete silence. Nobody dared to breathe.

The arm sliced down. "Begin!"

 **[-]**

 **And, I'm gonna stop there…**

 **Jk, I kept you waiting for waaaay too long, I'm not gonna take it away from you guys. Back to the story!**

 **[-]**

Of course, Cardin was the first to leap forward. It was typical of his current behavior. A tank like him would be in the front lines, taking damage and dishing out as much as he could. And that meant charging first into the enemy.

Edward smirked. Cardin's form was predictable. An open stance with both hands gripping the mace high above his head.

Cardin roared as he brought the mace down on top of Edward, who made no move to defend himself. Glynda almost called time right there.

Ed waited until the last possible second to dodge to the side, allowing the head of the mace to barely pass his face. He actually felt a couple hairs on his head move from the force of the swing.

The mace struck the ground with a resounding boom, denting the metal. So it was either heavy or Cardin was just ridiculously strong. Or both.

Ed gripped his spear and lunged forward, jabbing his opponent's left leg.

Weiss, watching from the stands, raised an eyebrow. The logical choice was to jab the weapon under Cardin's shoulder. There was no protection from the armor there. It would also deal the most damage, since most Aura generally settled around the body's center of gravity. So why did Edward hesitate to attack?

As much as he disliked Cardin, Edward couldn't just seriously maim another person. He could dish out a mean beating, but he would never stoop to the level of harming someone to within an inch of their lives.

Of course, it shouldn't be that hard to beat Cardin. But he was scared if he could potentially seriously harm the other student. Goodwitch mentioned something about an "Aura". Maybe this was the same thing that blocked his attacks earlier in the day. Like invisible armor or some crap. How that followed the laws of science was beyond him. Maybe some kind of high technology?

Problem was he didn't know how strong this Aura was. It may vary from person to person; it may be specific to each individual. Will Cardin lose more Aura the more harder he hit? He had no way of knowing. This was why he was testing the waters. Shave off some Aura, look at the screen on the wall to see how much Aura was lost, and act accordingly.

He felt the tip of the spear hit something. Not the armor, nor the actual leg itself, but some kinda hardened air. It was the same kind of feeling he got when he punched that kid earlier at the cafeteria.

Edward hopped backwards, dodging a sweep of Cardin's mace. He took a moment to glance over at the screen.

Just as he thought, Cardin's Aura meter only dropped a little bit. That little jab did nothing but slightly annoy the hulking teen.

Cardin stood straight and hefted his mace on his shoulder. He smirked. "What kind of weak-ass move was that? We're here to fight, not teach acupuncture."

His cronies sniggered from the sidelines, staring Ed down with clear malevolence. Obviously they had trouble using the bathroom because of him too.

The alchemist smirked but said nothing.

Cardin gripped his mace tighter and snarled. "You can dodge all you want, sometime you're gonna tire out. Then I'm gonna beat you to the ground."

He lunged forward again, bringing his weapon in an overhead arc, aimed straight for Edward's body.

 _The spear looks like it's made out of regular steel,_ Cardin thought, _Even one hit would snap that thing in half._

To his delight, it looked like the blonde was going to block his attack with the toothpick. Cardin smiled mid-swing. Too easy.

 ** _CLANG_**

Cardin's smile slipped off his face as his beloved mace, which had enough force behind it to cave in the skull of an Alpha Beowulf, was stopped by the simple steel spear. Ed grunted as he was forced back a couple feet, but otherwise, remained standing.

Pyyrha's mouth dropped in shock. She had no doubt the others shared her disbelief.

It shouldn't have been possible for Edward to block Cardin's swing like that. She could tell from looking at his spear earlier that it was a flimsy stick of steel. He wielded it with confidence, but it was still weak. There was no possible way for the spear to deflect the many tempered alloys in Cardin's mace.

Unless…

Pyyrha squinted slightly, looking straight at the weapon itself. Her hand glowed black, too slight to be noticeable from the casual onlooker.

She was trying to attract the metal. Only slightly, not even enough attraction to bother the blonde teen. If it was made of steel, she would have known immediately. There would have been slight resistance where her hand was.

But she felt nothing like that. Instead, she only felt the slightest of tugs. If she wasn't paying attention so hard, it would have gone unnoticed by her.

So the spear wasn't made out of steel. It was made out of some kind of metal that didn't exude too much of a magnetic field. Either that or there was something on the spear blocking the magnetic field from being too responsive to her Semblance. But what was it? She could have sworn it was a regular metal spear before the battle started!

Edward smirked right in Cardin's shocked face. It was a simple trick he pulled from Greed's Ultimate Shield. He used some sneaky alchemy to rearrange the atoms in the steel spear. Specifically the carbon atoms.

He hardened the carbon atoms until it was as strong as diamond, and simply shifted them over to cover the entire spear itself. The only noticeable difference it made in the spear was making it harder and have a slightly darker color.

He shoved Cardin's mace away, who stumbled back and settled into a more defensive pose.

He could have bet his life that the runt's spear was made out of steel. It was easy to see when he stepped out of the lockers. So why the hell was it so hard to break?

Ed smiled and gripped his spear. "What's the matter? Scared of needles?"

Cardin got over his initial confusion and snorted derisively. "As if. That twig might be able to withstand a couple hits but it's still steel. It's gonna snap eventually. Then I'm gonna wipe the floor with you, midget-!"

The blonde lunged forward with his spear, the tip of the weapon aimed straight for Cardin's chest. The hulking teen felt the tip being repelled by his armor and Aura as he stumbled back a foot or two.

Edward had steam coming from his ears and fire spewing from his mouth. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SHORT THAT THEY USE FLOSS AS ROPE?!"

Cardin did his best to block the wild lunges. "I didn't even say all of that, you spastic!"

"THAT BETTER NOT BE ANOTHER WORD FOR 'SHORT', OTHERWISE YOU'RE DEAD!"

Along the sidelines of the ensuing fight, Goodwitch groaned as she rubbed the bridge of her nose. When she got up this morning, she would have never foreseen such events happening. A sixteen year old boy and his younger brother being enrolled as students a semester late and having one of those siblings, the most volatile one, picking a fight with one of the biggest students of the freshmen class.

She understood why this happened, though. She had heard enough from the cafeteria staff complaining about a fight between a couple of students. They did not see who they were, but the professor had a sneaking suspicion that Edward and Team CRDL was at fault.

Edward swept his spear at Cardin's legs. Just as he thought, Cardin was barely able to jump over it. The armor was too heavy. It would have taken some preparation and a running head start to get above ground.

Without skipping a beat, Ed spun on his heels and kicked upwards, hitting Cardin's chin with his heel. The resulting kick was so forceful, it sent the teen, weapon and armor, a good two feet into the air. A ridiculous feat, but Edward was strong enough to bully around the occasional chimera, so this wasn't much of a problem.

Cardin flew back and crashed onto the ground. He loved his armor and weapon, but sometimes he hated how it was so heavy at some points. Especially now.

Cardin felt something sharp poke his neck. He looked up to see a triumphant blonde staring at him with a wolfish smile gracing his lips.

Ed smiled. That was way easier than expected. "I guess I win. Give it up, you're beat."

Cardin gulped, feeling the tip of the spear ride along his Adam's apple. He spared a glance at the screen above him. Was he really beaten that easily?

Ed stiffened as he saw Cardin smile, his eyes trained on something behind him. "What's so funny, you jackass?"

Cardin trained his eyes on golden ones. "Forgot the rules, shorty? My Aura's not completely gone yet!"

As he said this, his hand inched towards the handle of his mace. He gripped the cool leather on the handle and felt for a button with his fingers.

Ed paled and raised his spear up, presumably to try and shave off as much Aura as possible.

Too slow. Cardin quickly grabbed his mace and swung it as fast as he could at the teen. He was sure Goodwitch would throw a fit, but he didn't care. If he got in trouble, he could play it off as getting caught in the heat of the moment.

And it didn't really matter, did it? After all, that brat had an Aura to protect himself with. He didn't know why Goodwitch wasn't able to show the Aura meter on screen, but she couldn't complain if he roughed him up a little, right?

The alchemist saw the incoming attack and raised his spear to block the head. If he could block the gigantic weapon, he could do it again. But why was the red crystal at the end glowing?

 **CRACK**

Ed's eyes widened as the spear snapped in two, sending metal splinters flying everywhere. The resulting shards flew across the arena, sending it towards the blonde professor, who had the quick wits to grab her weapon and halt them in midair with her Semblance.

But Ed didn't notice that. He was too busy trying to stay alive. Cardin had gotten to his feet and brandished the weapon wildly, not worried in the slightest. Without that weapon of his, the blondie couldn't block his attacks anymore.

Ed threw down his shattered weapon and got into a fighting stance. Back to fighting a heavily armored being with fists again. At least he was better with his own two hands than a weapon. He was able to handle a spear just fine, but nothing beat the feeling of beating up a jerk with nothing but his fists.

The only concern was his right arm. The recently restored limb was weaker than he would have liked. After all, it had spent years in Truth's messed up world, and was extremely malnourished. It was barely noticeable though. The sleeve of the grey Beacon shirt he was wearing covered his arm, making it look like it was normal.

Ed changed position to keep his right arm closer to his chest and his left hand in front of him. He eyed his opponent warily, reading every move he made.

He noticed the professor about to step onto the arena floor. Her mouth was just about to open, no doubt trying to end the fight before it escalated beyond her jurisdiction.

Edward stared back with as much intensity as he could muster. _I'm fine. Don't interfere._

Goodwitch faltered and stopped, one of her feet on the arena floor.

"What does he think he's doing?" whispered Jaune, "He doesn't have a weapon! He's gonna be crushed!"

Blake spoke up, her amber eyes trained intensely on Ed, who went back to circling Cardin. "I don't know. Why is the professor not stopping the fight?"

Yang, on the other hand, cheered loudly. "Beat Cardin into the ground, Ed!"

Edward heard these cries and murmuring concerns, but he didn't care. At the moment, all that mattered was the fight between him and the bully.

And a fist fight shouldn't take too long to finish. He did use train with his brother, who for most of his life was trapped in a suit of armor, so fighting an even slower version of Alphonse should be a walk in the park.

The only other concern was the weapon. The blonde's golden eyes stared down at the glittering red crystal on top of the mace. If it was just the mace itself he would have been fine. But that thing was able to snap steel reinforced with carbon in a single hit.

He was curious about the stone. It looked so much like a Philosopher's Stone, it was scary. But it didn't have that ominous feel to it, so it must have been something else. Another high tech machine? He would have to ask Ruby later.

There was no way that thing could have broken through Greed's Ultimate Shield, though. What Edward did was just a cheap copy that he thought would be more than enough to finish the fight. It seemed he was mistaken.

Cardin smirked and flourished his mace. "Since Professor isn't calling time, I guess we're good to keep fighting. Do you really think you stand a chance with me and my weapon, though? Might as well call quits while you still have a head on."

Edward said nothing but his golden eyes flashed dangerously.

Cardin took this as a sign of aggression and charged forward once more, bringing his mace up above his head. He brought it down with a thundering roar, pressing the trigger as he did so.

He wasn't too worried about mortally hurting the blondie. The Burn Dust was brutal, but it would only shave off around 25% of an average Hunter's Aura.

Ed leaped backwards, almost gasping in shock as the ground where the mace hit suddenly exploded, sending chunks of metal everywhere. The alchemist landed on his feet. "What the hell is in that thing?"

"Playing stupid isn't gonna make me pull my punches!"

Cardin bashed his mace at Edward again, trying desperately to land a good hit. One good hit would knock the bastard off his high horse and ruin his image in this school forever.

Ed kept weaving around the weapon, scanning for any openings. He landed a couple of quick punches and kicks where the armor didn't protect his body, slowly whittling away at the huge teen's Aura. It was down to around a fourth. Good progress.

Cardin was fuming. He didn't land a single hit on the blonde at all. It was like trying to swat at a fly. The only difference was the fly didn't occasionally make jeering comments and whittle away his Aura.

The orange-haired teen retreated to the far end of the arena, aware of the many eyes on him. To the observer, it looked like he was scared and backing into a corner. But then he started running.

He ran for a good 10 feet before launching high up into the air with the help of Aura enforced legs and crashed his weapon onto the ground, shattering it and sending cracks everywhere. The resulting miniature earthquake was enough to trip the alchemist. Edward clearly didn't anticipate a hulking teen with equally heavy armor and a weapon to leap a good fifteen feet into the air.

Just what kind of messed up world was he in?

Cardin took advantage of this stumble and rushed forward, swinging his mace forward. He had to make this last swing count. He was barely above the red in his Aura meter. If the runt landed even one more hit, the fight would be over and he would lose.

Ed flipped on his hands and launched himself upwards. If that mace hit him, he had no doubt that it would seriously mess him up. And that trajectory and speed of the mace didn't look too good. The only choice was to…

 **CRUNCH**

The mace impacted against the alchemist's leg, twisting it at an unnatural angle at an almost 45 degree angle.

Cardin faltered a bit. Was this kid's Aura gone already? How was that possible? He didn't land a single good hit on him today!

The crowd gasped and some screamed. Only Ruby didn't look too concerned. She knew the leg that was hit. She saw it just last night after all. Even if it was broken, she already finished the replacement leg in the morning.

The crowd waited for Ed to start screaming in pain. He should have. Twisted and possibly broken legs didn't come without a huge amount of agony.

But he did nothing of the sort. Instead, Edward landed on his one good leg and launched towards the stunned teen, fire coming from his eyes and filled with murderous anger.

He docked the orange-haired teen in the face, knocking him cold. The bar on the Aura meter dropped to five. The teen was out of commission.

Coincidentally, so was Edward. His legs gave out under him and he fell to the floor, an annoyed frown upon his face. "Godamn stupid ass weapons. What the hell kind of school teaches crap like this? Chemistry and history is what they should be learning, not blowing people's heads off with a hug ass mace."

He saw some heeled feet enter his vision. "Are you alright, Mr. Elric?"

He waved the concerned blonde off. He knew full and well that Goodwitch knew about his metal leg. He wasn't sure if she knew which leg, explaining her deep concern.

Goodwitch understood immediately and nodded slightly. She turned back to the crowd, who had been on the edge of their seats, looking down with looks of concern on their faces.

"Team RWBY, if you can please escort Mr. Elric to the infirmary? Team CRDL, please help your leader back into his seat. From what I can see, he only has a mild concussion. He'll be fine in a few minutes."

She glanced back down at the alchemist, who was poking his leg, a forlorn look upon his face. "And Mr. Elric?"

He looked up.

"In the future, when I am about to call time, do _not_ keep fighting. I didn't stop because I had faith in your skills, but do not think you will be so lucky next time. Understood?"

Her burning eyes pierced straight through Edward, who shivered in fear. This woman was pretty much Hawkeye, right down to the blonde hair and deadly serious look in the eyes.

He felt a strong arm pull him up by the shoulder. "Jeez, you sure you're ok? That looks pretty bad…" Yang said, her lilac eyes filled with concern.

Blake and Weiss stepped down, closely followed by Ruby. "You must be in shock; we have to get you to the infirmary as soon as possible!" Weiss said.

Ruby was just about to zoom past, ready to help Edward up, until she felt cool fingers lightly grab her arm. She turned to face the impassive face of Goodwitch.

Her team and Edward looked on with confusion as Goodwitch muttered something to Ruby, who nodded and whispered back.

Glynda let go to go back to her Scroll, and Ruby skipped over, her silver eyes twinkling with mirth. "Come on guys, let's get out of here!"

"Why are you so happy about this?" Weiss snapped. "Edward clearly has a severely broken leg! From the damage it looks like his fibula and tibia are completely shattered! He may never walk again!"

Edward scoffed, bringing their attention to him. "Like that's gonna stop me."

He felt another arm lift him up. Blake had strength that belied her looks. "You think this is something to joke about? Oum, let's just get to the infirmary."

They burst past the double doors leading to the exit. Blake and Yang half carried, half dragged Edward off to the left, who was clearly not enjoying himself. He noticed to his eternal chagrin that Blake and Yang were a little taller than he was, so his unbroken leg dangled off the ground.

"No wait, guys! We have to take a right!"

Weiss looked back. "What are you talking about? The infirmary is this way! The right is the weapons armory."

Ruby heard Edward sigh. "For God's sake, should I just tell them, Ruby?"

Ruby shrugged. "I mean, if you want. Try not to freak them out too much."

Blake, Yang, and Weiss glanced at each other in confusion. Show them what?

The alchemist struggled to reach down to his pants leg, his broken automail sending slight tinkling noises, like he had some bells and coins in his pocket.

Blake gasped in horror. Weiss just stared, her surprise only indicated by a slight widening of her blue eyes. Yang cursed under her breath. "Language!" yelled Ruby.

Several gears and wires fell to the ground. "Thank god Winry isn't here, she would kill me and then figure out how to do human transmutation to revive me just to kill me again."

Blake bent down and gingerly grabbed the metal prosthetic, noticing how Edward didn't seem to care in the slightest. "What happened to you?"

Edward waved off the question. "Does it matter? Right now all I care about is fixing this thing." He glanced back at Ruby. "How long until the leg is done?"

Ruby flashed a smug grin and a thumb up. "Already finished this morning! All it needs is a cool looking paint job, but I'll leave that up to you to finish."

Yang turned to her little sister. "You already knew about this?"

"Well duh. How do you expect that I knew Edward since this morning?"

"Anyway," Edward interrupted, "Let's just get to the infirmary. I'm guessing Professor Goodwitch already told you about what to do?"

A nod.

"Alright, let's get going. I would walk there myself, but I think I might need some help from one of you guys."

Blake and Yang made a movement to grab his shoulders again. Edward stuck a hand out, halting them in their steps. "Only one of you. I don't want to be dragged all the way there."

Yang easily volunteered, having gotten over her initial shock fairly quickly. Prosthetics were fairly not that uncommon, so this shouldn't be that big of a surprise to her.

Blake stayed behind to pick up any trailing gears and wires. He could use them for later.

Ruby took point and led them away, babbling about how cool she made the leg and how strong it was and how much Edward was gonna love it.

Weiss glanced down at Edward's feet. She tried to wonder how long the prosthetic was. From the angle of the broken leg, it looked like the injury extended past his knee, maybe somewhere around the middle of the thigh.

She looked back up. _First your emaciated brother and now this? What in Oum's name happened to you two?_

Team RWBY's heads were brimming with all kinds of questions. Where did he come from? How did he and Alphonse sustain such tragic injuries? Who were they?

But they held their tongues. It was rude to poke into someone's history, after all. Edward would tell them if he wanted to. Common courtesy and all that.

 **[-]**

Ozpin smiled as he received a message on his Scroll from Glynda saying that young Mr. Elric was off to get a replacement leg.

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. Maybe he could get someone to see about those metal bits sticking out of his shoulder. He needed to keep his students healthy, after all.

He swiveled in his chair and sipped some coffee.

The boy and his brother was a mystery. They called their magic "Alchemy", and showed up out of nowhere, clearly battered and bruised from what looked to be an intense fight.

Who were they? How did they get magic? Did they seek out the Maidens and steal some of their power?

He sincerely doubted that one, but the possibility was still there. If it could happen to Amber, it could happen to the others.

The locations of Spring, Summer, and Winter were unknown, but if they were somehow discovered and had power siphoned off of them into the boys…

He shook his head and sipped more coffee. Foolish thoughts. The boys were innocent. He could tell. He could always tell.

He picked up his Scroll and replayed the same footage from yesterday for the umpteenth time. His glasses reflected off the screen. "Who _are_ you, Edward Elric?"

 **[-]**

A storm was brewing. Not literally, mind you, but a storm, nonetheless. There was a faint presence in the air, one that reeked of malice and dread.

Far away from any sign of civilization lay an enormous plot of land, dotted with purple and black. The only source of light was the red sky above and the shattered moon.

And in that land was a lone castle, gnarled and twisted with vines and metal. It may have looked amazing, but it was long corrupted to have any sort of gleam to it. Instead it glowed. Not with warmth, but with a bitter cold.

Grimm emerged from the cesspools of black tar that dotted the landscape, all growling and their attention drawn to the castle itself. The Queen was preparing. For what, they didn't know, but they did know that it was evil. Mayhap more evil than any Grimm in history.

Salem smiled, her red eyes burning with pride as she looked down at her newest creation. Well, not really strictly her creation. After all, she had abused most of her power to draw sources of energy from small pockets of energy around the globe.

On the floor in front of her was a large circle, made perfect with lines of chalk. Several symbols were drawn in-between the lines.

An alchemic array.

And in that array was a lone figure, lying down on the cold stone floor, and stirring slightly as he started to wake.

Salem gently knelt down and lightly grasped the figure's shoulder.

She barely had time to yank her hand back as several shadowy spike jutted out from near the figure, nearly spearing through her arm. If she didn't know better, she would have assumed it was the figure's Semblance.

But she did know better. And no Semblance looked remotely sentient, if the sharp white teeth and red eyes were anything to go by.

The figure stood up, not even reaching past Salem's waist. Salem followed suit and stood up also, clasping her hands together. She smiled. This boy was powerful. Just what she needed to follow through with her plan.

Several disjointed voiced, a mix between child and adult reached her ears. "Who are you? Where am I?"

Salem bowed slightly. "My name is Salem, mother of all Grimm. You are currently in my castle. Do you remember anything about yourself, Homunculus?"

The figure stepped into the light of the many candle dotting the room. He opened his eyes, revealing a cruel glare from cold black eyes. The boy's face was childlike; innocent, even.

But Salem didn't trust that look for a single second. She knew his kind. How destructive and manipulative they were.

The sentient shadows around the boy swirled violently. The boy took another step forward, revealing a formal suit ad vest. Although it looked like he had recently been in a fight, seeing how torn up they were.

The boy glared up at the witch as the shadows made spiky formations, all aimed at this new threat. "It seems you are familiar with my kind…"

He gave a mock bow, making sure to never let his eyes leave her person. "My name is Pride, the first Homunculus. How did I get here? And don't lie. You don't know how badly it is going ot end for you if you do…"

The shadows swirled, inching ever so closer to Salem, who just smirked and gestured behind her. "Let us sit first. Then we can talk about business, Pride."

Yes, everything was going according to plan…

 **[-]**

 **And I'm finally done. Wow, a whopping 13,000+ words, the most I've ever done! Take this chapter as an apology for the extra-long wait, I was pretty busy.**

 **And yay, Pride is in here! And how you may ask? It's obvious it was Salem, but how did she manage it? Find out next time lol.**

 **Before you guys rage about Salem and Pride "randomly" popping up, I did say that Truth wanted Edward to check out a disturbance that had Remnant's Truth worried, didn't I? So you can't really blame me.**

 **And about that fight. I realize that Edward vs. Cardin wasn't as exciting as I hoped… Sorry about that…**

 **Thing is, I don't really know how to make good fight scenes. If you guys can leave a PM or review on how much I can improve, please do so. You would help me out tremendously in the future.**

 **So yeah, I seriously hoped you guys enjoyed, I had a very fun time writing this down.**

 **Please feel free to drop a review and a favorite/follow.**

 **Next chapter may take a while since I'm gonna update my other fic first before that. So I made this chapter really long to compensate (Sorry about that scare right before the fight was supposed to happen lol).**

 **So yeah, I'll catch you all later! Have a great day!**


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